Process for decreasing acidity of a crude oil

摘要

An acidic crude oil (more especially one containing naphthenic acids) and an effective amount of an aqueous base solution are combined at conditions of pH and temperature sufficient to form an unstable emulsion of the acidic crude oil in the aqueous base solution. The emulsion is broken to form a phase containing crude oil having a decreased acidity and aqueous phase containing residual base and neutralized acids. When the acidic crude oil also contains calcium then decrease in calcium content can also be achieved.