Demulsification of oil emulsions with a mixture of polymers and alkaline earth metal halide

摘要

A process for recovering oil from either water-bituminous petroleum emulsions or from crude petroleum emulsions having a pH of 10 or less by adding thereto an optimum amount of non-ionic, water soluble polyethylene oxide polymers at a pH of 10 or less, and separating the oil from water. To resolve bituminous petroleum emulsions, the process is carried out at between 150 DEG F and 210 DEG F and a diluent is added to reduce the petroleum viscosity. The minimum effective concentration of the polymers used decreases as their molecular weight increases.