Synthesis and Performance of Two New Amphiphilic Ionic Liquids for Demulsification of Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsions.

This work aims to synthesize and apply two novel amphiphilic ionic liquids (AILs) for the demulsification of water-in-crude oil (W/O) emulsions. To do that, 4-tetradecylaniline (TA) and 4-hexylamine (HA) were etherified using tetrethylene glycol (TEG) in the presence of bis(2- chloroethoxyethyl)ether (BE) as a cross-linker, yielding corresponding ethoxylated amines TTB and HTB. The obtained ethoxylated amines TTB and HTB were quaternized with acetic acid (AA), obtaining corresponding AILs TTB-AA and HTB-AA. The chemical structures, surface tension (ST), interfacial tension (IFT), and micelle size were investigated with various techniques. The performance of TTB-AA and HTB-AA to demulsify W/O emulsions was investigated using different influencing factors, including the demulsifier concentration, water content, salinity, and pH. Additionally, the obtained results were compared with a commercial demulsifier. The results indicated that the demulsification performance (DP) increased as the demulsifier concentration increased and the water content decreased; however, increased salinity slightly improved the DP. The data also showed that the highest DPs were achieved at a pH of 7, which suggested a change in the chemical structure of these AILs at a lower and higher pH due to their ionic structure. Furthermore, TTB-AA demonstrated higher DP than HTB-AA, which could be explained by its higher ability to reduce IFT due to a longer alkyl chain than that of HTB-AA. Furthermore, TTB-AA and HTB-AA showed significant DP compared to the commercial demulsifier especially with W/O emulsions at low water content.