New Amphiphilic Ionic Liquids for the Demulsification of Water-in-Heavy Crude Oil Emulsion

This work aimed to use abietic acid (AA), as a widely available natural product, as a precursor for the synthesis of two new amphiphilic ionic liquids (AILs) and apply them as effective demulsifiers for water-in-crude oil (W/O) emulsions. AA was esterified using tetraethylene glycol (TEG) in the presence of p-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) as a catalyst obtaining the corresponding ester (AATG). AATG was reacted with 1-vinylimidazole (VIM) throughout the Diels–Alder reaction, forming the corresponding adduct (ATI). Following this, ATI was quaternized using alkyl iodides, ethyl iodide (EI), and hexyl iodide (HI) to obtain the corresponding AILs, ATEI-IL, and ATHI-IL, respectively. The chemical structure, surface activity, thermal stability, and relative solubility number (RSN) were investigated using different techniques. The efficiency of ATEI-IL and ATHI-IL to demulsify W/O emulsions in different crude oil: brine volumetric ratios were evaluated. ATEI-IL and ATHI-IL achieved promising results as demulsifiers. Their demulsification efficiency increased as the brine ratios decreased where their efficiency reached 100% at the crude oil: brine ratio (90:10), even at low concentrations.