Examining the Interplay of Hydrolysed Polyacrylamide and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate on Emulsion Stability: Insights from Turbiscan and Electrocoalescence Studies.

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is utilized in the oil and gas production industry to extract additional oil from underground reservoirs. In chemically enhanced oil recovery, surfactant and polymeric water are injected separately or in a mixture. Injected fluids can form stable emulsions during oil production.

Coalescence, Partial Coalescence, and Noncoalescence of an Aqueous Drop at an Oil-Water Interface under an Electric Field.

Drop-interface interaction under an electric field is relevant in commercial desalters wherein water droplets suspended in oil coalesce under an electric field, move down under gravity, and eventually coalesce with the water pool at the bottom of the desalter. In this work, we report our observation that the transition from coalescence to partial coalescence can be described by a critical electrocapillary number and is independent of the Ohnesorge number. On the other hand, the partial coalescence to noncoalescence transition depends upon both the electrocapillary number and the Ohnesorge number.