MST Technology 
How MST Works
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How MST Works
Many emulsions, and a majority in the crude oil industry, consist of highly polar water molecules dispersed in a minimally or non-polar hydrocarbon continuous phase.
Sometimes, the emulsion takes the form of a reverse, oil in water emulsion, or a complex emulsion in which there are multiple layers of oil and water droplets within droplets dispersed in a continuous phase.
Regardless of the emulsion type, in most cases it is stabilized by the presence of surface active molecules having both water and oil soluble character. Examples of these molecules include chemical surfactants, fine surface-charged solids, and hydrocarbon – usually asphaltene aggregate – molecules having polar character imparted by the presence of inorganic polar functional groups.
The near universal presence of these similar emulsion stabilizers imparts a common character to many emulsions based on the physics that hold them together.
MST overcomes both limitations: chemical or physical
Traditional emulsion treating methods rely on:
- chemical separation process
- or a physical phase separation, such as tanks and centrifuges. This attempts to force the separation based on density differences without addressing the physical interfacial forces that hold the emulsion together.
First Process
- MST heats the emulsion, increasing the bulk temperature by 50ºF
- reduces the viscosity of the system
- increases the relative density difference between the oil and water phases.
- This heating benefit promotes flocculation and creaming of the dispersed droplets, and can be achieved with any form of heating.
Second Process
- Unique to MST, microwave treating exploits the physical characteristics of emulsions to destabilize them by breaking down the physical bonds holding the emulsion together.
- MST subjects the emulsion to rapidly oscillating electromagnetic fields. This type of energy is preferentially absorbed by polar and charged molecules, including the water and the surfactants, charged solids and polar asphaltene aggregates that stabilize the emulsion interface.
- As the electromagnetic fields oscillate at 915 MHz, a temperature gradient is established across the oil/water interface, and the surface active molecules begin to rotate and move about as they react to the changing fields.
- This results in a breakdown of the surface and emulsion stability and renders the emulsion separable by facilitating coalescence of the destabilized droplets.
Only MST provides this unique capability to promote both flocculation and coalescence of the droplets, resulting in breakdown of the emulsion stability.
Third Process
Once destabilized by MST, the emulsion can be separated using conventional methods such as tanks, hydrocyclones or centrifuges, but with faster and/or cleaner separations than by these units alone.
MST not only enhances the emulsion separation with these units, but becomes an enabling technology, making possible a separation that cannot otherwise be accomplished.
Used with conventional phase separation methods, MST increases the capacity of slop settling tanks or reduces the number of tanks needed for slop oil service, or it can increase the reliability and stream factor of centrifuges.
We've animated the emulsion process so you can view MST in action.
