Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43153-021-00215-1

ORIGINAL PAPER

An experimental study on low‑content crude oil in water emulsion

using low‑frequency ultrasonic waves
Payam Parvasi1   · Fateme Kamali1 · Mohammad Reza Talaghat1

Received: 20 February 2021 / Revised: 16 December 2021 / Accepted: 17 December 2021 / Published online: 3 January 2022
© Associação Brasileira de Engenharia Química 2021

Abstract
The present work experimentally investigates the impacts of low-frequency ultrasound waves on the removal of low crude-
oil content (500 mg/L) emulsion from a crude oil wastewater unit. A total of 32 experiments were designed using Minitab.
The study did not use chemical demulsifiers in the experiments and performed the experiments using a laboratory ultra-
sound bath at 25 kHz and 45 kHz frequencies. The tests were designed to assess the impacts of the ultrasonic frequency,
ultrasonic irradiation time, ultrasound power, and wastewater temperature on the separation efficiency. Based on the results,
25 min of irradiation time at 30 °C and in an ultrasonic bath of 45 kHz and 50 W provided the optimal operating condition.
Furthermore, the study used ImageJ to measure the droplet size distribution and the average diameter before and after the
ultrasound radiation for all tests. These results showed that, in optimum conditions, crude oil emulsion separation efficiency
increased by 72%.

Keywords  Crude oil in water emulsion · Low-frequency ultrasonic bath · Crude oil wastewater unit

Introduction There are two types of brine in crude oil, including free
and emulsified brine. Large brine droplets, which are freely
Crude oil is a mixture of solid, liquid, or gaseous hydrocar- dispersed in crude oil and settle on the bottom of the stor-
bons and the composition depends on operating pressure and age tanks in less than 24 h. Part of the brine also remains as
temperature conditions (Leelavanichkul et al. 2004). Along small emulsion droplets in crude oil, which does not settle.
with crude oil, mud particles, a mixture of magnesium, cal- These droplets are more difficult to separate from crude oil
cium, chlorides, carbonates, sulfates, and other minerals are (Salam et al. 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to separate
also extracted from the well. These materials contain min- small emulsion droplets from crude oil in desalting units
erals and crude oil with a lower mineral content of higher (Check and Mowla 2013).
quality (Fakhru’l-Razi et al. 2009). There are five principal methods for crude oil desalina-
Among these factors, two factors are more important to tion including gravity, chemical, thermal, using chemicals,
determine the quality of crude oil. The first is the crude oil electrical, and adding fresh water. Depending on the crude
density, which depends on paraffin, asphaltene, and other oil specifications in each region, a combination of these
hydrocarbon contents, measured by the standard American methods is applied to separate brine emulsion droplets from
API unit. A higher API indicates a lighter crude oil, and a crude oil (Parvasi et al. 2013). The separated brine solution
lower API means a heavier crude oil (Santos et al. 2014). is considered as wastewater of the desalination unit.
Another influential factor in crude oil quality is the basic The crude oil wastewater obtained from processing units
sediment and water percentage (BS&W) in crude oil (Vafa- is about 80 to 95% free water, and the rest is in the form of
joo et al. 2012). brine emulsion droplets (Zolfaghari et al. 2016). The high
content of soluble salts, crude oil droplets, volatile and non-
volatile organic materials, and other contaminants of crude
* Payam Parvasi oil wastewater pose significant challenges for crude oil units
[email protected] and the environment (Hu et al. 2013). Crude oil wastewater
treatment involves removing crude oil droplets in gravity
1
Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, settler tanks using chemical demulsifiers (Krebs et al. 2013).
Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran

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198 Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205

Subsequently, treated wastewater is injected into the oper- intensity, and temperature were key factors in the suspen-
ating or abandoned wells for enhanced crude oil recovery sion process. These experiments led to the development
(Estrada and Bhamidimarri 2016). of a mathematical model as a function of ultrasound, tem-
Moursy and Abo El-Ela (1982) examined the processing perature, and other variables' intensity. The results of these
of Cairo refinery oil wastewater using the dissolved air flota- experiments agreed significantly with the mathematical
tion (DAF) process. They used an air flotation tank instead model.
of adding chemicals. The results showed that hydrocarbon In two studies, Pangu and Feke tested oil in water separa-
compounds and other contaminants in the wastewater were tion under the ultrasonic effect. They reported a separation
significantly reduced or were completely removed. They pre- efficiency of 80% under ultrasonic waves for 1–15 µm of oil
dicted that the DAF method was an effective way to remove in water emulsions. They also modeled the motion of two
hydrocarbon compounds at very low concentrations. oil droplets in the ultrasonic system (Pangu and Feke 2007,
Li et al. (2007) designed a new type of DAF column for 2009).
oily wastewater treatment and evaluated its performance. Stack et al. (2005) studied the effects of ultrasonic waves
They also specifically studied the aeration performance of on the separation of grease from industrial wastewater. They
the bubble generator. The results showed that the bubble also investigated the effect of other parameters such as elec-
generator played a key role in the air column system and trolysis, pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, ultrasound
the addition of flocculants and surfactants was necessary to intensity, and ultrasonic radiation time. The results showed
improve the DAF separation efficiency. that conductivity was the most effective factor in ultrasonic
Tetteh and Rathilal (2018) improved the treatment of oil separation and the ultrasonic system was capable of com-
refinery wastewater using the DAF process. They examined pletely separating grease from wastewater.
the effects of parameters such as coagulant dosage, air satu- Ning et al. (2009) conducted experiments on crude oil
rator pressure, air–water ratio, and rising rate on the effi- sludge using a 28 kHz and 40 kHz ultrasonic tank at various
ciency of the DAF system. The results showed that the DAF temperatures. They also tested the range of different sound
process with Polyaluminum Sulfonate as a coagulant agent pressures. The results showed that the separation rate using
can increase the separation efficiency by more than 80%. ultrasound was 55.6% higher than the separation rate without
Abuhasel et al. (2021) studied new methods of oil sepa- ultrasound. They also found that 28 kHz ultrasound waves
ration from oily wastewater. Their findings showed that exhibited a lower oil content than 40 kHz ultrasound waves.
a combination of several methods or several systems can Nii et al. (2009) investigated the effect of ultrasound on
accelerate oil wastewater treatment given the operating cost. the separation of rapeseed oil from water at 2 MHz fre-
In addition, they examined the DAF method. The results quency. They found that by sampling and observing the
showed that by adding a surfactant to the DAF system, the changes in the sample, the flocculants were completed in
efficiency of reducing the surface tension of the oil increased the sample after the ultrasound irradiation. Moreover, they
more than 90%. On the other hand, a high operating cost of examined the effect of two parameters; power input and irra-
the mentioned DAF process was reported. diation time and found that the separation was directly cor-
Radiation technologies have been utilized for different related with the power input and the irradiation time.
recovery and filtration processes to handle small particles Li et al. (2013) studied crude oil sludge reduction by soni-
within liquid suspensions (Abdulrahman and Meribout cation. They performed the experiments at different time
2014; Mohsin and Meribout 2015a). Numerous separation durations including 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 min. The results
phenomena are found to demulsify emulsions under ultra- indicated that the optimum conditions were 20 min and
sonic fields (Schoeppel and Howard 1966). A vibrating 40 °C. Furthermore, they were able to reduce the volume of
motion is created along with the wave propagation by the sludge from 500 to 40 ml.
molecular transmission of pressure pulses to the material. Ghafourian Nasiri et al. (2013) placed crude oil in water
The temperature also increases by the resultant rarefactions emulsion in a high-intensity sound chamber to improve the
and compressions of ultrasonic waves while decreasing separation rate. Various variables were tested, such as irra-
the fluid’s viscosity and facilitating the separation, in turn diation time 5–30 min, a distance of 17–37 cm from the
(Gardner and Apfel 1993). sound source, the sound intensity percentages of 20, 45,
Different types of transducers with a frequency range of and 75%, and crude oil concentrations of 0.5, 2, and 10%.
10 kHz–2 MHz and electrical power of 50–1000 w have The optimum experimental conditions were 10% crude oil
been employed for facilitating the demulsification of crude emulsion, 17 cm distance from the sound source, 30-min
oil in water (O/W) emulsions. Islam et al. (2000) assessed duration, and 20% sound intensity.
the impacts of ultrasound waves on the separation of crude Mohsin and Meribout (2015b) studied the effect of ultra-
oil from (O/W) emulsions. They found that crude oil param- sound on oil separation from water theoretically and exper-
eters, such as phase concentration, composition, sonication imentally. They also proposed a new device. The results

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showed that the new device did not change the physical low crude oil content wastewater (to the limit of mg/L) under
properties of oil; it was capable to completely separate oil ultrasonic waves.
from water.
Khajehesamedini et al. (2018) designed an ultrasound
transducer to reduce the use of chemical demulsifiers. Materials and methods
They examined the impacts of ultrasonic radiation time, the
ultrasonic intensity, as well as water content. The results Experimental procedure
showed that by choosing the appropriate field time dura-
tion and intensity, the use of chemical suspensions can be The crude oil used in the experiments in the emulsion phase
reduced down to 50%. They also proposed a population bal- was collected from the Sarvestan oilfield in Iran. Table 1
ance model for the interpretation of experimental data. The lists the characteristics of Sarvestan crude oil.
proposed model significantly agreed with the experimental The O/W emulsions were made as follows:
results.
Agi et al. (2019) performed a separate and simultaneous 1. Sarvestan dead (dehydrated) crude oil (0.05 ml) was
investigation of ultrasound and membrane’s influence on oil added to distilled water (99.95 ml) to prepare a 100 cc
emulsion in water. The results showed that the simultaneous sample. The result was 500 mg/L oil-in-water emulsion
use of the membrane with ultrasound greatly increased the solution;
separation. The efficiency of membrane use with and with- 2. A mechanical agitator (Gastroback, Model: 40,229) was
out ultrasound was about 90% and 49% respectively. used to homogenize the mixture;
Mettu et al. (2020) investigated the effect of bulk viscos- 3. The initial DSD (droplet size distribution) of the emul-
ity and emulsion droplet size distribution on Mineral Oil-in- sion was determined using Dino‐Lite AM4515T8 edge
Water (O/W) emulsion separation in the presence of ultra- series handheld microscope with a high magnification
sonic standing waves. The results showed that bulk phase power (700 ~ 900x) and ImageJ, an image processing
viscosity, the oil droplet size distribution, ultrasonic power, program;
and frequency affected the separation efficiency. However, 4. Pouring the emulsions (100 cc) specimens into the ultra-
the ultrasonic wave frequency had the greatest effect when sonic bath, the ultrasonic treatment was allowed to initi-
the ultrasonic frequency was increased from 1 to 2 MHz and ate;
as a result, the separation efficiency was increased from 36 5. The effects of the ultrasonic field on the emulsions were
to 86% respectively. studied.
Vahdanikia et al. (2020) studied the simultaneous effect
of ultrasound and microorganisms on the stability of water- Figure 1 represents the experimental apparatus schemati-
in-oil emulsions. They found that ultrasound reduced the cally. The ultrasonic bath is an Elmasonic TI-H 5. The bath
emulsion stability by about 6%. In addition, microorganisms is a multi-frequency model with 25/45 kHz and has sweep
could also reduce surface tension up to 10 to 12% by produc- mode for the perfect sound field distribution. The maxi-
ing biosurfactants. This is because biosurfactants produce mum ultrasonic bath effective power is 100 W; however,
fatty acids, which reduce surface tension. the power range of 20–50 W was used in this study. The tank
Akpomie and Conradie (2021) investigated the separation internal dimensions are width = 240 mm, depth = 130 mm,
of oil emulsion from polluted water using natural organic- height = 150 mm and the bath tank internal capacity is 3.5
silver nanocomposite (AgAW), natural organic sorbent (AW) L. In addition, the ultrasonic bath has a heating element
adsorbents, and ultrasonic waves. The results of the study (400 W) that can heat the bath tank environment up to 80 °C.
showed that AgAw was a better adsorbent than AW. In addi-
tion, with the simultaneous use of AgAW and ultrasonic
waves, a 85.3% oil separation efficiency was obtained. Table 1  Characteristics of the Sarvestan crude oil
The present study investigates the use of low-frequency Sarvestan crude oil property Value Unit
ultrasonic waves to enhance the breakup of crude oil-in-
Density API (ASTM D4052) 32 –
water emulsions. The tests were designed to investigate the
Kinematic viscosity @ 25 °C (ASTM D445) 19.1 mm2/s
impacts of ultrasonic frequency, ultrasonic field intensity,
Asphaltenes (Sara Analysis) 2.4 %w/w
ultrasonic irradiation time, and temperature on the separa-
Resins (Sara Analysis) 22.6 %w/w
tion efficiency. The paper concludes with remarks concern-
Interfacial tension (Tensiometer DSA100, Kruss) 19.3 mN/m
ing the likelihood of replacing ultrasonic waves for chemi-
Conductivity (ASTM D2624) 21 nS/m
cal demulsifiers in the treatment of crude oil wastewater in
Salinity concentration (IP 77-72) 1800 mg/L
desalting plants. Arguably, this is the first study that investi-
Water content (ASTM D4007-02) 5 %w/w
gates and tests removing crude oil-in-water emulsions from

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200 Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205

Fig. 1  Schematic of the
ultrasonic bath for crude oil Emulsion
wastewater treatment

Water

Transducer

These steps were conducted for all the experimental Statistical data analyses
points. The tests were aimed at evaluating the effect of
ultrasonic frequency, ultrasonic intensity, and wastewa- Design of experiments (DOE) is an efficient and system-
ter temperature on the crude oil separation efficiency. atic method that allows researchers to model the relation-
The separation efficiency was investigated based on the ship between multiple input and key output variables. The
residual crude oil volume ratio η d, which is the ratio of resulting model can be used for a variety of purposes such
the residual crude oil volume without ultrasonic wave to as selecting optimum levels for the variables. Moreover, it
residual crude oil volume with an ultrasonic wave: can provide predictions for the response under a variety of
knob variables (Arnold 2006).
Volwithout ultrasonic
𝜂d = (1) Minitab is a statistical software that can be used to ana-
Volwith ultrasonic lyze a wide range of data. It’s interface is very simple and
The required time for the separated crude oil volume meas- user-friendly. Despite its apparent simplicity, Minitab also
urement and the residual emulsion crude oil volume is con- supports many advanced methods. It is relatively free of
sidered as 10 h. The reason for choosing this time duration bugs and errors, and its output is accurate. In addition, it
was the separation rate of crude oil from wastewater under offers the maximum amount of information at the lowest
industrial conditions, which is the same as the industrial number of tests and costs. It also recognizes important fac-
separation rate. tors for better control of the system (Arnold 2006).
Another parameter In this study, the design and analysis of the experiments
)examined in this paper is the mean were performed using Minitab design software version 17.
droplet diameter D4,3  , which is described as (Ghafourian
(

Nasiri et al. 2013): The experimental design is the knowledge that derives logi-
cal conclusions from experimental data (Nopens et al. 2002).
n
Such data provide the latest information about the various
∑I
( i
i=1 ∑I n
× di 4 )
D4,3 = ∑I i=1 i
(2) factors affecting the process. This software provides graphs
n
( i
i=1 ∑I n × di 3 ) that illustrate how the response changes based on the influ-
i=1 i
encing factors and compares them (Azodi and Solaimany
where ni is the crude oil droplet number in size class i and di Nazar 2013).
is the diameter of size class i. If there is no emulsion phase The effects of each parameter on the test result and opti-
separation, increasing the mean droplet diameter indicates mum test conditions were determined in Minitab. The study
that droplets have grown larger during collision mecha- used the Taguchi method and the L32 array to explore the
nisms. However, the processes of emulsion phase separation effects of ultrasonic time, temperature, ultrasonic frequency,
decrease the mean droplet diameter, indicating that larger and ultrasonic power on these experiments. Furthermore, the
droplets are separated from the mixture, representing the study developed the signal-to-noise (SNR) graphs. Taguchi's
improvement of separation efficiency. designs precisely measure controllable factors, indicating

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Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205 201

the process changes by minimizing the effects of uncon-

trollable factors (disturbances). Controllable factors are the
main design and process parameters. The disturbances are
not controllable in the industrial process; however, they are
controllable during experimental tests. In a Taguchi design
experiment, disturbing factors are manipulated through
detecting the settings of controllable factors to obtain opti-
mal results. Controllable factors make the process strong
or resistant to changes in the intrusive factors (Azodi and
Solaimany Nazar 2013; Choudhury et al. 2014). Table 2
shows the designed experiments of this study.

Results and discussion

Data analyses were performed in three steps. First, the

effects of ultrasound on the mean diameter and size distri-
bution of crude oil droplets were investigated. Then, dia-
grams were developed to show and compare the final crude
oil emulsion size distribution with and without ultrasonic
effect and the residual crude oil volume ratio. In the end, the
study presented the effect of ultrasonic frequency, ultrasonic
power, temperature, and time of ultrasound radiation on the
separation of crude oil emulsions.

The results of mean diameter and size distribution

of crude oil droplets
Fig. 2  Initial image and size distribution of crude oil droplets in
The crude oil emulsion was conducted experimentally using wastewater
the same settings of an industrial crude oil wastewater unit.
Therefore, the experimental crude oil emulsion in all tests

Table 2  Experiments designed f = 25 kHz f = 45 kHz

by Minitab design software
Test no. Power (watt) Tempera- Time (min.) Test no. Power (watt) Tempera- Time (min.)
ture (°C) ture (°C)

1 20 30 10 17 20 30 25
2 20 40 15 18 20 40 20
3 20 50 20 19 20 50 15
4 20 60 25 20 20 60 10
5 30 30 10 21 30 30 25
6 30 40 15 22 30 40 20
7 30 50 20 23 30 50 15
8 30 60 25 24 30 60 10
9 40 30 15 25 40 30 20
10 40 40 10 26 40 40 25
11 40 50 25 27 40 50 10
12 40 60 20 28 40 60 15
13 50 30 15 29 50 30 20
14 50 40 10 30 50 40 25
15 50 50 25 31 50 50 10
16 50 60 20 32 50 60 15

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202 Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205

Fig. 3  Final size distribution of crude oil droplets in wastewater

Table 3  Experiments designed by Minitab design software of the Minitab software, the effect of the parameters was
Frequency Power (watt) Tempera- Radiation Separation
studied separately.
(kHz) ture (°C) time (min.) efficiency
The results of Minitab software
25 20 50 20 1.44
25 30 30 10 1.39
Here, the findings of the 32 tests in Minitab are presented
25 40 40 10 1.60
and the effect of each parameter on the results is discussed to
25 50 60 20 1.60
determine the optimal condition. Figure 4 shows the results
45 20 40 20 1.58
of the experiment based on the mean data. As shown in
45 30 30 25 1.72
Fig. 3, all of these diagrams are expressed on the same scale.
45 40 40 25 1.63
The horizontal axis of this graph shows the experimental
45 50 60 15 1.57
levels and the vertical axis shows the average SNR values
for each parameter.
Since these results are measured on the same scale, it was
had an initial volume of 500 mg/L. Figure 2 shows the initial possible to determine which factor was the least and most
image and size distribution of crude oil droplets. influential on the process change. The larger average SNR
Figure 3a–h shows the amount of crude oil in wastewa- gives the highest effect and it is considered the highest effec-
ter emulsion after 10 h of initial emulsion preparation. The tive level. The slope of each graph also indicates the effect
results are presented for eight tests. Each diagram shows of that parameter on the test result. The higher the slope of
the effects of ultrasonic waves on crude oil separation at the graph, the greater the amplitude of the SNR changes
frequencies of 25 kHz and 45 kHz and ultrasonic powers of and hence the greater the effect of parameter changes on
20, 30, 40, and 50 watts. A comparison of the vertical axis the test results.
of Figs. 2 and 3 demonstrates that a large percentage of the As illustrated in Fig. 4, temperature, ultrasound exposure
crude oil droplets in the wastewater was removed after 10 h duration, and ultrasonic power have a higher influence. The
of gravity separation. In addition, Table 3 lists the separation graph also shows that separation efficiency at 45 kHz is bet-
efficiencies associated with the diagrams in Fig. 3. ter than that at 25 kHz. The increase in separation efficiency
As shown in Table 3 and Fig. 3, ultrasonic waves signifi- is due to the higher energy intensity and cavitation effect
cantly increased the separation efficiency. The highest sepa- with the higher frequency (Antes et al. 2017). In addition,
ration efficiency was 1.72; and the important point is that the the vibrational energy increases the collision between the
effect of the parameters cannot be analyzed separately from two phases and as a result, the oil droplets permeability and
the experiment and results. Therefore, based on the analysis coalescence increase.

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Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205 203

Fig. 4  The effects of parameters

on crude oil separation based on
the mean data

Based on Fig. 4, 50 watts of ultrasonic power was the Table 4  The results of oil droplet mean diameters
most effective power. In addition, the ultrasonic irradiation Frequency Power (watt) Tempera- Radiation Diameter
time is directly proportional to the separation efficiency, with (kHz) ture (°C) time (min.) (mm) × ­107
the highest efficiency achieved in 25 min. However, the dif-
ference between the separation efficiency with ultrasound 25 20 30 10 5.52
exposure durations of 20 and 25 min was negligible. Finally, 25 30 30 10 5.99
25 40 40 10 5.47
the separation efficiency was higher at lower temperatures.
25 50 60 20 2.96
As shown in Fig. 4, the efficiency has the opposite trend
45 20 40 20 3.73
with changes in temperature. The decrease in separation
45 30 30 25 3.47
efficiency in response to an increase in temperature can be
45 40 40 25 3.06
attributed to higher temperatures in which there is a rapid
45 50 60 15 6.89
convective motion in the crude oil emulsion. Due to the
increase in emulsion phase velocity, shear stress increases
in the emulsion phase, and the crude oil droplets disperse
again (Kundu et al. 2013). of the mixture after 10 h separation residence time (without
Another important reason was the crude oil emulsion the ultrasonic wave effect) was 9.14 × ­10–7 mm.
phase’s low density. Because of the low density of the emul-
sion phase, an increase in temperature results in a significant
decrease in the impact of crude oil emulsions. Therefore, the Conclusions
separation efficiency decreases significantly (Hosseini and
Shahavi 2012). The separation of petroleum wastewater (oil-in-water emul-
The results of the separation process based on the waste- sion) was tested in the presence of ultrasonic waves. The
water temperature are consistent with the industrial condi- results of the experimental design by Minitab showed that
tion. That is, in the industrial process, gravity separation of frequency and temperature had the greatest impact on sepa-
crude oil emulsions is performed at ambient temperature. ration efficiency. Accordingly, the frequency of 45 kHz and
As mentioned earlier, a smaller remaining crude oil drop- temperature of 30 °C, power of 50 Watt, and ultrasonic
let mean diameter indicates more crude oil in water separa- residence time of 25 min provided the highest separation
tion efficiency. The results of the crude oil droplet mean efficiency. The results indicated that ultrasonic waves sig-
diameter calculation according to the Taguchi experiment nificantly reduced the number of oil emulsions. Based on
and method are presented in Table 4. It should be noted that the experiments, the separation efficiency was increased by
the oil droplets’ mean diameter in the initial mixture was 1.72 times compared to the conventional process. While the
1.46 × ­10–5 mm and the crude oil droplets’ mean diameter efficiency of the conventional process within 10 h is about

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204 Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2022) 39:197–205

60%, the novel process efficiency of this study is about produced water treatment. J Hazard Mater 170(2–3):530–551.
90%. As mentioned in the introduction section, the DAF https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​jhazm​at.​2009.​05.​044
Gardner E, Apfel RE (1993) Using acoustics to study and stimulate
process with polyaluminum sulphate addition as a coagu- the coalescence of oil drops surrounded by water. J Colloid
lant agent can increase the oil removal efficiency by more Interface Sci 159:226–237. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1006/​jcis.​1993.​
than 80%. In other research, with the simultaneous use of 1316
AgAW and ultrasonic wave, 85.3% oil separation efficiency Ghafourian Nasiri H, Hamed Mosavian MT, Kadkhodaee R (2013)
Demulsification of gas oil/water emulsion via high-intensity ultra-
was obtained. The results also indicated that the mean diam- sonic standing wave. J Dispers Sci Technol 34:483–489. https://​
eter of remaining crude oil droplet that underwent ultrasonic doi.​org/​10.​1080/​01932​691.​2012.​681990
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eter of remaining crude oil droplet without the ultrasonic lescence of oil droplets (in nanometer scale) in water emulsion.
Chin J Chem Eng 20(4):654–658. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/​S1004-​
wave separation process. 9541(11)​60231-0
Hu G, Li J, Zeng G (2013) Recent development in the treatment of
Acknowledgements  The authors would like to thank The Shiraz Uni- oily sludge from petroleum industry: a review. J Hazard Mater
versity of Technology for protecting this work. Also, the authors are 261:470–490. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​jhazm​at.​2013.​07.​069
grateful to South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company (SZOGPC) Islam MR, Genyk R and Malik Q (2000) Experimental and mathe-
for their informational and financial supports. matical modelling of ultrasonic treatments for breaking oil–water
emulsions. In: Canadian International Petroleum Conference,
4–8 June, Calgary, Alberta, Paper Number: PETSOC-2000-087.
https://​doi.​org/​10.​2118/​2000-​087
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