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- Title
Enhanced effectiveness of oil dispersants in destabilizing water-in-oil emulsions.
- Authors
John, Gerald F.; Hayworth, Joel S.
- Abstract
Oil impacting the northern Gulf of Mexico shoreline from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident was predominantly in the form of water-in-oil emulsions (WOE), a chemically weathered, highly viscous, neutrally buoyant material. Once formed, WOE are extremely difficult to destabilize. Commercially-available oil dispersants are largely ineffective de-emulsifiers as a result of the inability of dispersant surfactants to displace asphaltenes stabilizing the oil-water interface. This study investigated the effectiveness of the commercially-available dispersant Corexit 9500A, modified to enhance its polar fraction, in destabilizing WOE. Results suggest that Corexit modified to include between 20–60% fractional amount of either polar additive (1-octanol or hexylamine) will produce a modest increase in WOE instability, with a Corexit to hexylamine ratio of approximately 80/20 providing the most effective enhanced destabilization. Results support the hypothesis that modifying the fraction of polar constituents in commercial dispersants will increase asphaltene solubility, decrease oil-water interface stability, and enhance WOE instability.
- Subjects
GULF of Mexico; EMULSIONS; DISPERSING agents; PHYSICAL &; theoretical chemistry; INTERFACE stability; MATERIALS science; OIL-water interfaces
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2019, Vol 14, Issue 9, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0222460