Advances in Emulsification and Separation Technologies for Petroleum Industry

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2026

Special Issue Editors

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Interests: oil–water separation; oil–solid separation; organic waste treatment; adsorption
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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Interests: surfactant; colloid and interface science; emulsion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The efficient handling of complex emulsions and the effective separation of oil–water mixtures are fundamental yet persistent challenges across the petroleum industry, from oilfield production and transportation to refinery operations and wastewater treatment. Stable emulsions hinder production efficiency, increase operational costs, cause equipment corrosion, and pose significant environmental risks if not managed properly. Simultaneously, stringent environmental regulations and the drive for economic and operational sustainability demand increasingly efficient separation technologies. Intrinsically, overcoming these challenges requires continuous innovation in understanding emulsion formation/stability, developing advanced separation techniques, and creating novel functional materials. Significant advancements are being made in areas such as chemical demulsifiers (smart, green, nano-enhanced), electrostatic coalescence, membrane filtration, centrifugal separation, hydrocyclones, flotation, adsorption, and hybrid processes. These innovations aim to improve separation efficiency, reduce energy consumption, minimize chemical usage, and enable resource recovery from waste streams like produced water and oily sludge.

This Special Issue on “Advances in Emulsification and Separation Technologies for Petroleum Industry” seeks high-quality original research and review articles focusing on the latest scientific and technological breakthroughs in this critical field. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Fundamentals and Characterization: Mechanisms of petroleum emulsion formation/stabilization; advanced characterization techniques for emulsions and interfaces; modeling of emulsion behavior and separation processes.
  • Novel Demulsification Technologies: The development and testing of new chemical demulsifiers (e.g., polymeric, nano-particle based, bio-based, stimuli-responsive); non-chemical methods (e.g., advanced electrocoalescence, ultrasonic, microwave, magnetic).
  • Produced Water Treatment: Efficient technologies for oil removal, desalination, and contaminant reduction in produced water for reuse or safe discharge.
  • Oily Sludge Treatment: Advanced separation and recovery techniques for valuable hydrocarbons from oily sludge.

Dr. Lin He
Prof. Dr. Dejun Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • emulsion
  • oil–water separation
  • demulsification
  • unconventional oil
  • oily hazardous waste
  • waste water
  • economic evaluation
  • environmental assessment

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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