What are the types and uses of emulsion breakers

An emulsion breaker is a chemical agent that destabilizes an emulsion, causing it to break up and stratify. The following are common types of emulsion breakers and their uses:

Types

Anionic emulsion breakers: these emulsion breakers will dissociate negatively charged ions in water, which are mainly adsorbed on the surface of emulsion particles through electrostatic action, neutralizing the positive charge on the surface of the particles and causing the emulsion particles to lose their stability and polymerize and break the emulsion. Commonly, there are fatty acid salts, sulfonates, carboxylic acid salts and so on.

Cationic emulsion breakers: dissociate positively charged ions in water, which can have electrostatic attraction with negatively charged particles in the emulsion, neutralize the surface charge of the particles, and promote the emulsion to break the emulsion. Such as amine salts, quaternary ammonium compounds.

Non-ionic emulsion breaking agent: there is no dissociable ionic group in the molecule, mainly through hydrogen bonding, van der Waals force and other interactions with the emulsion particles. It has good water solubility and penetration properties, can form a protective film on the surface of the emulsion particles to prevent the aggregation of particles and at the same time reduce the interfacial tension, so that the emulsion is easy to break the emulsion. Commonly, there are polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene ether, polyol fatty acid esters and so on.

Amphoteric ionic emulsion breaker: the molecule contains cationic and anionic groups at the same time, and its emulsion breaking performance is greatly affected by the pH value of the solution. Under acidic conditions, it shows the characteristics of cationic emulsion breaker; under alkaline conditions, it shows the characteristics of anionic emulsion breaker. Therefore, amphoteric emulsion breakers have a wide pH range.

Uses

Crude oil dehydration: In the process of oil extraction, crude oil often exists in the form of oil-in-water emulsion. Emulsion breakers can separate the water in crude oil, reduce the water content of crude oil, improve the quality and transportation efficiency of crude oil, and reduce energy loss and equipment corrosion during transportation.

Wastewater treatment: Industrial and domestic wastewater often contains a variety of emulsified oil and suspended particles, forming a stable emulsion. Emulsion breakers can destroy the stability of these emulsions, so that the oil droplets and suspended particles are aggregated and separated, thus realizing oil - water separation, and facilitating the subsequent sewage treatment and reuse to meet the requirements of environmental protection emissions.

Food industry: In food processing, some unwanted emulsions are sometimes produced, such as fat globules in milk, which can form stable emulsions in some cases, affecting product quality. Emulsion breakers can be used to destroy these emulsions and achieve separation of fat and water, e.g. to help remove fat from whey during cheese making.

Textile printing and dyeing industry: textile printing and dyeing wastewater contains a large number of emulsified dyes and auxiliaries, emulsion breakers can make these pollutants separated from the emulsion, to facilitate the subsequent treatment and recycling, to reduce the pollution of the environment.

Metal processing industry: cutting fluid and emulsified oil used in metal processing need to be treated after use. Emulsion breakers can separate the oil and water in these emulsions and recycle the oil in them, while reducing the difficulty and cost of wastewater treatment.