Summary
It has already been demonstrated that model water-in-kerosene systems and toluene diluted heavy crude oil emulsions can be broken by microbial agents. In this studyN. amarae andR. rhodochrous are used on undiluted, water-in-heavy crude oil emulsions. The high viscosity of the undiluted emulsions severely limits the demulsifying ability of the bacteria towards these field emulsions.
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Wilkinson, M.A., Cooper, D.G. Testing of microbial demulsifiers with heavy crude emulsions. Biotechnol Lett 7, 406–408 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01166212
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01166212