We investigate the water-oil interface using molecular dynamics simulations of realistic models of alkanes and water. The intrinsic density profiles are computed using a methodology that removes the smoothing effect of the capillary waves. We show that at 300 K the intrinsic width of the gap separating the oil and water phases spans little more than one water molecule diameter, and undergoes ve...

In this work, the feasibility of flow pattern and oil hold up the prediction for vertical upward oil–water two–phase flow using pressure fluctuation signals was experimentally investigated. Water and diesel fuel were selected as immiscible liquids. Oil hold up was measured by Quick Closing Valve (QCV) technique, and five flow patterns were identified using high-speed photo...

High water cut and low velocity vertical upward oil-water two-phase flow is a typical complex system with the features of multiscale, unstable and non-homogenous. We first measure local flow information by using distributed conductance sensor and then develop a multivariate multiscale complex network (MMCN) to reveal the dispersed oil-in-water local flow behavior. Specifically, we infer complex...

Results of radar monitoring of the sea surface in the Russian sector of the Black Sea coastal zone are presented. The attention was focused on the detection of oil pollution as well as biogenic and anthropogenic surfactant films. The basic data were high resolution radar images obtained by synthetic aperture radars (SAR) on board Envisat and ERS-2 satellites of the European Space Agency. Spatia...

Using a lattice model for water-oil-amphiphile mixtures, we examine the interfaces between the water-rich, oil-rich and disordered phases in the mean-field and Bethe approximations. By calculating the surface tensions between these phases along their coexistence triple line, we find that the disordered phase wets the water-oil interface when it is an ordinary disordered fluid but not when it is...

The subsurface microbiology of an Athabasca oil sands reservoir in western Canada containing severely biodegraded oil was investigated by combining 16S rRNA gene- and polar lipid-based analyses of reservoir formation water with geochemical analyses of the crude oil and formation water. Biomass was filtered from formation water, DNA was extracted using two different methods, and 16S rRNA gene fr...

Characterizing the mechanism of drop formation at the interface of horizontal oilwater stratified flows is a fundamental problem eliciting a great deal of attention from different disciplines. We experimentally and theoretically investigate the formation and transition of horizontal oil-water stratified flows. We design a new multi-sector conductance sensor and measure multivariate signals from...

An experimental investigation on the effect of surfactant monolayers on the heat transfer through air/water and oil/water interfaces was carried out by observing the changes of surface temperature with IR Imaging Radiometer (Model 760). The heat transfer resistance of various single component and mixed monolayers at air/water and oil/water systems was studied. The results show that the surfacta...

Many non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) are expected to spread at the air-water interface, particularly under non-equilibrium conditions. In the vadose zone, this spreading should increase the surface area for mass transfer and the efficiency of volatile NAPL recovery by soil vapor extraction (SVE). Observations of spreading on water wet surfaces led to a conceptual model of oil spreading vertic...