Nanofluidic platform for emulsion stability

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Emulsions pose serious engineering challenges in petroleum industry. Crude oils always contain some water, most of which in form of large lenses that can be easily removed. During production, when oil flows through wellbores, valves, and pump impellers, due to vigorous agitation and with the help of natural surfactants present in the crude oil, some water is emulsified into micron-sized droplets, which are very difficult to separate. Salts (mostly sodium chloride) dissolved in that water pose serious corrosion problems for downstream pipelines and refineries. Oil industry spends millions of dollars daily to prevent formation or to break up water-in-crude oil (W/CO) emulsions. It has been stated that asphaltenes are almost exclusively responsible for the stability of the W/CO emulsions; however their exact stabilization mechanism is not yet