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[Display omitted] • Lotus leaf treat with a hydrothermal method is used to separate the W/O emulsion. • HLLF can be used in different types of crude oils. • HLLF is natural, low-cost and easily prepared without any chemical modification. • The demulsification efficiency of HLLF is similar to commonly commercial demulsifiers. Looking for efficient, environmentally-friendly, and low-cost demulsifiers for the separation of oil–water emulsion is the goal of oil industry. In current work, natural lotus leaf was used as raw material to prepare a HLLF demulsifier by a simple hydrothermal method without the addition of any chemical reagent. The HLLF demulsifier was utilized to demulsify the water-in-crude oil (W/O) emulsions. Effect of the demulsifier dosage, settling time, temperature and treatment method of HLLF on the demulsification efficiency (DE) was investigated. Encouragingly, the demulsification of the W/O emulsions could occur quickly, and the optimal DE was up to 88.17% with 1000 mg/L of dosage and 90 min of settling time at 70℃. Besides, it could effectively demulsify two types of crude oil emulsions from different oilfields. The possible demulsification mechanism was systematically investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), three-phase contact angle (CA), dynamic interfacial tensions (IFT), self-assembly of interfacial film and microscopic analysis. The CA value for HLLF was 81.53° and its IFT was 25.65 mN/m with the dosage of 500 mg/L at room temperature. The prominent demulsification ability of HLLF was attributed to the micro-nano structure on its surface, which may soften or destroy the rigid interfacial film to enhance the film drainage. The finding suggests that HLLF is a promising demulsifier for the separation of W/O emulsion, which exhibits a great application prospect in oil industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]