Nowadays chemical and electrostatic demulsification techniques are typically used to separate water-in-crude-oil emulsions. The need to improve demulsification techniques has led to the use of various additives among which nanoparticles have emerged as a novel alternative. Most of the exploited crude oils exist in an emulsion state, where may cause serious problems during processing. Chemical demulsifiers, bottle tests, and electrostatic desalters are commonly used to separate water from crude oil emulsions but there are some issues involved with these methods. Therefore, using new technologies like nanotechnology can help improve the desalting process. First, Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-chitosan nanocomposite were synthesized via the co-precipitation method. Fe3O4-chitosan nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that ultrafine Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared and coated by chitosan. In this study, Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-chitosan nanocomposite were utilized to improve emulsion destabilization. The effect of different parameters on the separation performance was studied and the best conditions were determined. The results showed that the application of certain nanostructures in crude oil emulsions improves the performance of demulsification up to 86% and decreases the amount of demulsifier consumption in the desalting process. Manuscript profile

Copper nanoparticles are widely used in various industries and products. Size and morphology are two important parameters to determine nanoparticle properties. In this study, copper nanoparticles were synthesized without an inert environment using two different reducing agents namely ascorbic acid and sodium hypophosphite. Various capping agents (PVP 105, PVP 4×104, PEG 6000, SDS, CTAB and glycerol) were used as stabilizers. Effect of several parameters including reducing agent concentration, type and amount of stabilizer and precursor concentration on the size and stability of the resulting nanoparticles have been investigated. The synthesis experiments resulted in a 25-60 nm average size of nanoparticles based on the synthesis conditions and the stabilizer type and concentration. Also this research provides a fast and simple way for the synthesis of stable pure colloidal copper nanoparticles in polyol, which is accomplished by decreasing CuSO4.5H2O using sodium hypophosphite in glycerol and without inert medium and homogeneous and non-agglomerated, 25 nm copper nanoparticles were obtained. The as synthesized copper nanoparticles are characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and dynamic light scattering techniques. Manuscript profile

Nowadays chemical and electrostatic demulsification techniques are typically usedto separate water-in-crude-oil emulsions. The need to improve demulsificationtechniques has led to the use of various additives among which nanoparticleshave emerged as a novel alternative. Most of the exploited crude oil exists in anemulsion state, where may cause serious problems during processing. Chemicaldemulsifiers, bottle tests, and electrostatic desalters are commonly used toseparate water from crude oil emulsions but there are some issues involved withthese methods. Therefore, using new technologies like nanotechnology can help improve the desalting process. First, Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-chitosan nanocompositewere synthesized via co-precipitation method. Fe3O4-chitosan nanoparticles werecharacterized by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.The results showed that ultrafine Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared and coatedby chitosan. In this study, Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-chitosan nanocomposite were utilizedto improve emulsion destabilization. The effect of different parameters on theseparation performance was studied and the best conditions were determined.The results showed that the application of certain nanostructures in crude oilemulsions improves the performance of demulsification up to 86% and decreasesthe amount of demulsifier consumption in the desalting process. Manuscript profile