Rheological Study of Petroleum Fluid and Oil-in-Water Emulsion

The rheological behavior of two types of crude oil and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion were thoroughly studied. These rheological properties were investigated including steady flow behavior, shear stress, shear rate, and fluid flow behavior by using a Brookfield Rotational Digital Rheometer. Both of crude oils were prepared by homogenized at 10,000 rpm in 5-10 min, thermodynamically stable. The pure heavy and blend oil exhibit a Newtonian character for the temperature between 30°C - 97°C with expression of expressed in terms of shear stress, τ= ?(γ). Besides, Arrhenius-type relation is expressed in terms of log ?=?(1/T) also demonstrated their Newtonian behavior. Meanwhile, the model emulsions range to 30-60% by volume oil indicate non-Newtonian shear thinning (n<1) flow behavior which is examined shear rate range between 17-85 s-1. However, the oil in water emulsion indicated Newtonian profile when preparing emulsion over 60% of oil fraction and T >90 0C. The expression from Power Law model demonstrated non-linear relation between shear rate and shear stress can be observed.