Effect of asphaltene, carbonate, and clay mineral contents on water cut determination in water-oil emulsions

The role of asphaltene, carbonate, and clay contents on the stability of water-oil emulsions and water cut determination was evaluated via both IR analysis and physicochemical properties of the tested mixtures. To study the effect of asphaltene addition, 10 emulsions were prepared. The first five emulsions contained different water cuts from 10 to 50 wt.%, and constant asphaltene ratio of 0.2 wt.% while the second five specimens contained different asphaltene ratios of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 wt.%. To study the effect of clay types, 10 water-in-oil emulsions with different clay types (kaolinite and bentonite) and different water cuts from 10-50 wt.% were tested. To study the effect of clay ratios, six water-in-oil emulsions with different clay types and ratios of 2, 4, and 8 wt.% were prepared. The effect of carbonate type was studied with the use of calcite (CaCO₃), magnesite (MgCO₃), and dolomite (CaMg (CO₃)₂), and different water cuts from 10-50 wt.% The effect of different carbonate ratios of 1, 3, and 5 wt.% was also studied. Relationships between water cut, major functional groups, and mixture physicochemical properties were developed. Therefore, for a known property, water cut could be predicted.