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[Display omitted] • RHC-0.5 was prepared via a simple one-step hydrothermal route. • RHC-0.5 has high demulsification efficiency in water-in-crude oil. • The demulsification efficiency of RHC-0.5 is similar to commonly commercial demulsifiers. • RHC-0.5 is low-cost and environmentally-friendly and easily prepared. Demulsification of crude oil emulsions still face many difficulties in the petroleum industry. Therefore, it is very important to develop innovative materials to achieve the effective separation of oil–water emulsions. In this work, an environmentally friendly RHC-0.5 demulsifier was prepared via a simple one-step hydrothermal route using rice husk (RH) as raw materials. It was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer and thermogravimetric analysis. The possible breaking mechanism was analyzed by particle size analysis, Zeta potential, interfacial activity, interfacial tension, self-assemble of interfacial film and microscopic analysis. The influence of some important factors such as dosage, temperature, standing time and salinity on the demulsifying efficiency (DP) was explored through bottle tests. The optimal DP of 95.01 % could be obtain with 300 mg/L of RHC-0.5 at 70 °C for 10 min. Meanwhile, RHC-0.5 had a good salt tolerance even at the salinity of 40000 mg /L. In addition, its DP was compared with that of commercial demulsifiers such as SP169, CH-66 and AR-32. This work not only can promote the efficient utilization of biological waste (RH), but also provides an insight into the exploration of new demulsifying materials with excellent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The synthesis step of the demulsifier is extremely simple. • The demulsifier has a good performance and application potential. • This work provides a new idea for explanation of demulsification mechanism. • The demulsifier can greatly shorten time and reduce temperature of demulsification. A three-branch structure demulsifier (GTE-DDA) for the treatment of water-in-crude oil (W/O) emulsions was synthesized by a one-step method using glycerol triglycidyl ether (GTE) as core and dodecyl amine (DDA) as branched chain. It was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectra (1H NMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Some key parameters such as the concentration of GTE-DDA, settling time, operated temperature and salinity on demulsification efficiency (DE) were systematically explored. The DE reached 87.55% after treating with 400 mg/L of GTE-DDA at 50 °C for 30 min. The demulsifying temperature was significantly lower than those reported in literatures (60-80℃). Especially, a rise in temperature could further improved the DE. In addition, GTE-DDA had an excellent salt tolerance. The possible mechanism was investigated by the interfacial tension (IFT), three-phase contact angle (CA) and microscopic observation. The comparison with commercial demulsifiers showed that GTE-DDA had a great potential for the treatment of crude oil emulsions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]