Enhancing the demulsification performance using metal-organic frameworks with amphipathic microdomain
Rui Wang1,2, Yi Feng1, Haijuan Xu3, Huijun Cai1 and Ying Zhou1,2,*
( 1. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China)
( 2. The Center of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China)
( 3. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Hubei Minzu University, Enshi 445000. China)
*Corresponding author: Ying Zhou; Fax: +86 28 83037406; E-mail:yzhou@swpu.edu.cn; Postal address: School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, No. 8, Xindu Road, Chengdu 610500, China.
Abstract: Demulsification is an important process for dehydration of crude oil and environmental remediation. The intrinsic structure of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) endows MOFs with amphipathicity and meets the requirement of demulsifier. Herein, we studied the demulsification performance, process and characteristic using MIL-100(Fe), a kind of classical MOFs. It was found that the amphipathicity of MIL-100(Fe) is crucial for demulsification. The demulsification efficiency (DE) for model emulsion excessed 99% within 30 min at optimal condition, and dehydration efficiency for crude oil emulsion was up to 79% within 5 min using MIL-100(Fe). The DE can be maintained when the pH ranged from 10.0 to 4.0, and it increased along with an increase of salinity (1~1000 mmol·L-1). Component analysis revealed that the degradation of sodium dodecyl sulfonate occurred by an abstraction of SO32-, which could eliminate the potential risk of emulsifying again. Therefore, this study exhibited the potential of MIL-100(Fe) for demulsification, and confirmed that enhancing the interaction with emulsion is an effective strategy for new demulsifier to against the harsh conditions.
Key words: Demulsification, MOFs, amphipathic microdomain, harsh conditions, degradation
Topical area : Energy and environmental engineering