AN ADJUSTABLE-RESOLUTION SURFACE LASER-LIGHT SCATTERING SPECTROMETER AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE MEASUREMENT OF INTERFACIAL-TENSION AND VISCOSITY IN CRUDE-OIL SYSTEMS

We review our work on the development of a surface laser-light scattering (SLLS) spectrometer with adjustable resolution and its application to the measurement of interfacial tension and viscosity. A data analysis procedure incorporating explicitly the spectrometer resolution has been developed. Measurements on several liquid/vapor interfaces for a range of wavenumbers and spectrometer resolution settings have demonstrated the accuracy of the technique and the validity of the data analysis procedure. SLLS measurements of strongly photoabsorbing crude oil systems have been performed. For these measurements, restrictions on the laser power, the scattering angle, and the spectrometer resolution have been specified. Measurement of crude oil properties at ambient conditions have been shown to agree with conventional measurements. The fully-qualified SLLS spectrometer has been used to measure the interfacial tension and viscosity of a crude oil system at the elevated temperatures and pressures of an oil-field reservoir. © 1990.