Determination of particle size of heavy oil in water dispersion system by ultrasonic attenuation method

The ultrasonic attenuation measurement was used to analyze the particle size of heavy oil in water dispersion system for the first time. The particle size and particle size distribution of the 70% dispersion system (Venezuela heavy oil/water) under different conditions were determined. The results show that the ultrasonic attenuation spectrum of the crude heavy oil and water at different frequencies is obviously different. The ultrasonic attenuation method was able to characterize the particle size and particle size distributions of heavy oil/water dispersion. The particle size distribution of the Venezuela heavy oil/water dispersion is uniform and the average particle size is about 100µm. Whereby 80% particle size of the system is between 60µm–178µm and only less than 10% of the particle size is more than 180µm or less than 55µm. Moreover, the measurement tendencies of ultrasonic attenuation method are consistent with the results of apparent viscosity. It indicates that the ultrasonic attenuation method can be regarded as an effective approach to determine particle size of heavy oil/water dispersion, which should have high value of application in the online detection in petroleum industry.