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