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Crude Oil Desalting Process
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By Nasir Hussain
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August 10, 2021
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The crude oil desalting process extracts salts from a crude oil hydrocarbon stream by mixing the stream with Topic Voi Pos Last
ces ts Post
a small amount of freshwater forming a water-in-oil emulsion. The resulting emulsion is subjected to an
Risk Receptor 1 1 5 days,
electric field in a crude oil desalter where the water coalesces as underflow from the upper flow of a Meaning 15 hours
Started by: Nasir Hussain ago
relatively water-free, continuous hydrocarbon phase. The desalted hydrocarbon stream is produced at a in: Health Safety and Environment Nasir Hussain
relatively low cost and has a very small residual salt content. The Desalting process removes salts
Risk Receptor 1 1 5 days,
contaminants and suspended solids (soil, Iron oxide, and iron sulfide, clay, sand, etc.) from crude oil before Meaning 15 hours
Started by: Nasir Hussain ago
introduction to the crude distillation column. in: Health Safety and Environment Nasir Hussain
What is mission time 1 1 1 month,
Crude oil feedstock contains various types of salts, clay, and sand that can not be removed by gravity settling in functional safety 2 weeks
and reliability ago
in the storage tanks. Most of the time the salts in the crude oil are in the form of dissolved salts as fine water engineering? Nasir Hussain
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Started by: Nasir Hussain
droplets emulsified in the crude oil. This is called a water-in-oil emulsion, where hydrocarbon is the in: Health Safety and Environment
continuous phase while the dispersed phase is the water. These are mostly magnesium, calcium, and sodium
Documents required 1 1 10
chlorides salts with sodium chloride being the abundant type present in crude oil. These chlorides, except for for HAZOP Study months
Started by: Nasir Hussain ago
NaCl, hydrolyze at high temperatures to hydrogen chloride. The Hydrogen chloride produced, dissolves in in: Health Safety and Environment Nasir Hussain
the overhead system water, producing hydrochloric acid, an extremely corrosive acid.
Meaning of Blowout 1 1 11
in Fired Heaters months,
Started by: Nasir Hussain 3 weeks
CaCl2+2H2O= Ca (OH)2+2HCl ago
in: Process Operations
Nasir Hussain
MgCl2+2H2O=Mg (OH)2+2HCl
What is on-stream 1 1 1 year, 1
factor in process units, month
oil refinery and ago
Salts sediments and water are types of Olephobic impurities that can not be dissolved in an oil stream and petrochemical Nasir Hussain
Started by: Nasir Hussain
are removed by applying an electrical desalting process. These impurities are analyzed by BS&W (Base
in: Process Operations
sediments and water) analysis and are measured in PTB pounds per thousand barrels. The typical range of
What is Sensitization 1 1 1 year, 2
salts, water, and sediments are 5~1000 PTB, 1~2 volume %, 10~500 PTB respectively. The controlled value of Effect in Stainless months
Steels ? ago
Base sediments and water is less than 1 PTB. Started by: Nasir Hussain Nasir Hussain
in: Maintenance
Why is desalting of crude oil necessary? Hydrogen Purity 1 1 1 year, 2
during Sulfiding of months
Hydrotreating Catalyst ago
The presence of these salts and sediments poses adverse effects on the refining process. Effective desalting
Started by: Nasir Hussain Nasir Hussain
in: Hydroprocessing
helps to get rid of these damaging effects of salts. The purpose of the desalter is to remove the salts and
save the major refinery equipment. Meaning of Terms 1 1 1 year, 2
Localized Corrosion months
and Corrosion Erosion ago
1. Salts in the presence of water are responsible for corrosion in the processing system. For example, Started by: Nasir Hussain Nasir Hussain
in: Maintenance
chloride salts of magnesium generate hydrochloric acid at a temperature above 150°C and may cause
severe corrosion both in the liquid and vapor phases. Temperatures and 2 3 1 year, 4
LHSV at Naphtha months
Hydrotreater Reactor ago
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Started by: Hamzaali1999 Nasir Hussain
2. Salts deposit inside the furnaces tubes and on the tube bundles of heat exchangers creating fouling, in: Process Operations
thus reducing the heat transfer efficiency.
Difference between 1 1 1 year, 5
3. The salts carried with the products act as catalyst poisons in the downstream catalytic Oleophobic and months
Oleophilic Impurities ago
hydroprocessing units. Started by: Nasir Hussain Nasir Hussain
in: Process Operations
4. The presence of inorganic salts in the crude feed will concentrate in the distillation products, thus
contaminating the residual petroleum products. What us Deadweight 1 1 1 year, 7
Tonnage or Tons months
Deadweight? ago
Crude oil desalting Process Started by: Nasir Hussain
in: Process Operations
Nasir Hussain
In the desalting process of crude oil, preheated crude oil containing salts and water is mixed with fresh water Troubleshooting & 0 1 1 year,
Inspection & 10
from 3 to 10 volume % water at temperatures from 110 to 150°C. The desired mixing is achieved by using Understanding months
Started by: Hamzaali1999 ago
the mixing valve. The salts are dissolved in the wash water and the oil and water phases are separated in a in: Process Operations Hamzaali1999
settling vessel by developing a high-potential electrical field. Drops of water are ionized or polarized (one
Primary Distillation 1 1 2 years
negative side and the other positive) by electric charge and coalesce due to the attraction of opposite Capacity and ago
Secondary Conversion Nasir Hussain
charges to form bigger drops of water, which then fall by gravity toward the bottom of the vessel and then Capacity
Started by: Nasir Hussain
drained to the water treatment section. Thus, the emulsion is broken as long as the crude water mixture is in in: Process Operations
contact with the electrodes. De-emulsifying agents are also injected in small amounts to break the unbroken
What is the difference 1 1 2 years,
emulsion. between 6
Hydrotreating and months
Hydrocracking? ago
In crude oil desalter, AC or DC current fields may be utilized and potentials from 12,000 to 35,000 volts are Started by: Nasir Hussain Nasir Hussain
in: Hydroprocessing
used to promote coalescence. Mostly, AC field desalters are used in the refineries. For single-stage desalting
up to 90 to 95% efficiencies are obtained while the two-stage desalting process achieves more than 99%
efficiency. One process uses a dual field process that uses both the AC and DC fields to provide high Viewing 15 topics - 1 through 15 (of 122
total)
dewatering efficiency i.e. up to 99 % in a single stage dual field desalter. The desalters using an AC field are 1 2 3 … 7 8 9 →
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applied near the oil-water interface and a DC field in the oil phase above the interface. About 90% of
desalters use AC field separation only. Fig 01 shows the general configuration of the electrical desalter.
Crude Oil Desalter
The water level in the desalter is controlled such that the water level should not reach the electrodes, which
may cause a short circuit between the electrodes as water is a good conductor of electricity. An interface
level transmitter senses the water-oil interface level and sends an alarm signal if the level is high or low and
it automatically switches off the power supply in case the water rises above a high level. A low level of water
may cause poor desalting and may allow carryover of crude oil with discharged brine to drain. The two-stage
desalting process can be seen in the desalting Process Flow Diagram below.
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Two-Stage Desalting Process
Desalter Operating Variables
For optimized crude oil desalter operation and troubleshooting the desalting process, the following
parameters are controlled.
a. Temperature
The settling rate depends on the density and viscosity of the crude. High temperature lowers the density and
viscosity, which will increase the water settling rate based on the crude gravity. Higher temperatures may rise
vaporization and conductivity, resulting in desalter amperes spikes. Typical desalting temperatures can vary
between 100 and 150.
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b. Washing Water Flow
Adding water to the crude oil helps in salt removal. Hence, increasing the wash water rate increases the
coalescence rate. Low flow of water reduces desalting efficiency because of low contact with brine droplets.
Water rates higher than recommended will cause higher power consumption. Depending on the desalting
temperature, a minimum value should be used. The typical flow of washing water ranges from 3–8 vol% of
the crude feed rate.
c. Water level
Raising the water level reduces the settling time for the water droplets in the crude oil, thus improving the
desalting efficiency. However, if the water level gets too high and reaches the lower electrode, it shorts out
the desalter. Since the primary electric field depends on the distance between the lower electrode and the
water–crude interface, it is always better to keep the level constant for stable operation.
d. Demulsifier Injection Rate
Demulsifiers are basic copolymers with one end being hydrophilic (water absorber and attaches to the
surface of the water droplet), and the other end being hydrophobic (loves the oil and is directed to the oil
side). When these compounds are adsorbed on the droplet surface, they stabilize the droplet. The
demulsifier is added to the crude after the feed pump or before the mixing valve at levels between 3 and 10
ppm of the crude.
e. Pressure Drop Across the Mixing Valve
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Mixing the washing water with crude oil is necessary in order to distribute the water and dissolve any
suspended salts crystals. Greater the pressure drop across the mixing valve greater will be the mixing of the
streams and better separation of the water. On the other hand, over mixing produces fine droplets which
tend to stabilize the emulsion and make water separation more difficult. Therefore, there is a compromise in
the selection of the appropriate pressure drop across the mixing valve. For optimized operation, a pressure
drop between 0.5 and 1.5 bar is used.
f. Desalter Pressure
The operating pressure of the desalter is maintained to avoid vaporization of the liquid phase during
desalting. A typical pressure of 12 bar is necessary to achieve this purpose.
g. pH Control
pH of desalter effluent water is normally maintained near 6.5 because at low pH formation of hydrochloric
acid from chloride salts and the presence of organic acids in crude oil may cause severe corrosion in the
desalter drum. Better water removal is obtained in electrical desalters when they are operated at a pH of 6. If
the pH of the brine exceeds 7, emulsions can be formed because of the sodium naphthenate and sodium
sulfide present. The caustic solution is injected with the incoming water to control the pH aqueous phase.
h. Voltage
If the voltages go up and current flow becomes excessive then the desalting operation becomes costly. On
the other side, if the voltage drops then demulsification also drops down, resulting in poor desalting
efficiency.
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