Muhammad Fahad Khan

Engineer Operations
 Removal of salts from crude is called
Desalting
 The equipment used for the removal of salts,
suspended solids and water soluble trace
metals/slits, iron oxides, sand etc.
 To reduce fouling and plugging of crude oil
fractionators and exchangers due to salt
deposition.

 To reduce rate of corrosion of crude oil

fractionators.

 To avoid lengthy and expensive plant shut downs.

 To reduce consumption of Neutralizers.

 To remove Metals which may poison
Reformer Catalyst.

 To achieve more then average Plant Life.

 To obtain high degree of operating flexibility

due to slug or high tank bottom
abnormalities.
 These salts are mainly chlorides and sulfates of
Calcium and Magnesium like NaCl, MgCl2, CaCl2
and MgCl2.

 Chlorides hydrolyzed to hydrochloric acid cause

severe corrosion.
CaCl2 + H2O → Ca(OH)2 +HCl

 Salts act as catalyst to Plugging of Exchangers and

formation of coke (hot spots) in heater tubes.

 Salts in residue contain high ash content causing

degradation of product.
 Slats are generally measured in PTB (parts per
thousands barrels).

 Salts concentration in crude depends upon the

Source of Crude.

 Salts are inorganic in nature and are soluble in

water (inorganic) and insoluble in crude (organic).
 Natural Desalter

 Chemical Desalter

 Electro Chemical Desalter

 Desalter in which Settling time is given to salts,
sediments, water and sludge which under gravity
settled down in the bottom of Vessel and then
drained.

 Example is drainage of sludge and water from

tanks and Settling Vessel F-2 at Lummus.
 Desalter in which chemical is added to the crude in
order to remove salts, sediments, water and
sludge.

 Chemicals reduce the surface tension for making

removal of salts and water easy.

 Both Natural and Chemical Desalter are useful for

crude having low salts or for Batch Process.
 Desalting process by use of chemical along with
electric field.

 Demulsifier used as chemical while electrodes

connected to step up transformer used for electric
field generation.
 Preheated crude, fresh water along with small
amount of chemical injected to Desalter through
mixing valve to form Emulsion.

 Small water droplets containing salts converted to

form big and heavy drops through Electric Field
(Emulsion Breaking) and settle in the bottom.
 Provide electric filed.
 A.C Current provided to Transformer.
 Helps in emulsion breaking.

 Cylindrical in shape having caps on both ends with

out holes in it.
 Holes are random and flow is laminar.
 To keep the required water level in the Vessel.
 LCV on the effluent drain is connected to float
arrangement.

 Rectangular in shape having circular holes in it.

 The line is equipped with nozzles which enhance
the velocity head of water when operated.
 Operated in order to remove sludge.

 Having circular holes to drain effluent continually.

 Containing LCV to maintain required water level.
 Sample points used to check water level, interface
and Crude condition.

 Electrodes are connected to Transformer.

 Electrodes are in form of bed hanging in the vessel.
 Bed vibrates when field created through them.
 Mechanical Safety of Vessel because the
Desalter operate at high Pressure.

 Used to form emulsion of water salts and crude at

the inlet of Desalter.

 Exist above the effluent header.

 To drain emulsion with out disturbing water level.

Wash Water
 Components of wash water are Fresh water and
<50% of recirculation water.

 Injected to increase the contact b/w water and

Salts because salts are soluble in water.

 Wash water should not contain any oxygen, under

spec carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates.

 pH should be maintained b/w 6 to 8.

pH 5.5 – 7.5
Total Hardness <50ppm
Total CO3-1/ HCO3-2 <50ppm
Ammonia <100ppm
Chlorides <2000ppm
Sulfates <200ppm
Oxygen <1ppm
Before charge pump

 Results maximum contact

 Reduce scale formation of calcium and magnesium
in the pre heat train.
Draw Backs
 Pumps capacity reduces.
 Strong emulsion form due to intense shearing
agitation of impeller in pump body.
 pH of water should be highly controlled.
Down Stream of Charge Pump
 Before FCV.
 No Intense shearing due to impeller.
Braw Backs
 Emulsion formation
 Scales formation in the Pre heat train

Upstream of Mixing Valve

 Controlled mixing and emulsion formation.
 No Scaling in the pre heat train.
 Water settling follows Stroke’s Law
V = 2r2g(d-do)/9η

 Settling Time

T α (1/ size of droplet)

 Droplet size should be >50 micron.

 Droplet Size increased through mixing valve.

 Min. settling time is 20 to 30 minutes.

 Decrease in temperature increase the
viscosity making settling of salts and water
difficult and vice versa.
T α (1/ Viscosity)
 High Desalter Temperature cause increase in
solubility of water, formation of tight
emulsion and carry over of Salts and Water.
 Temperate limit is from 90oC to 150oC
varying from crude to crude.
 These are Chemicals
used for breakage of
emulsion. Crude
Oil
Types of Emulsion
Water/Oil Emulsion Water
(Refinery)
Micro size droplets of
water are surrounded
by oil.
Oil/Water Emulsion
 Micro size droplets of
Wate
r
Oil is surrounded by
Water. Crude Oil
 Demulsifier weaken the oil layer around
water to coalesce with other droplets.
 In some cases changes the polarity and so
the droplets attract each other to coalesced.
 Excess demulsifying agent effects adversely.
 Soap : migrates to interface and weaken
interfacial films.
 Polar : Migrates to interface and alter
polarity, so particles will coalesce.
 H2O Soluble : Acts as Soap or Polar but
remain in water phase
 Ionic : Increase Electric conductivity, which
increase tendency to demulsify.
 High voltage Electric
field is provided to
break Emulsion.
 Alternating electric
field is provided.
 Step up Transformer is
used to provide high
voltage of 10 to 18KV
depending upon the
salts in crude.
 Electric field break the
emulsion layer formed
across water and so
water coalesce to form
large droplets which
settled under gravity.
 Vibration of water
droplets occur due to
A.C
 High voltage electric
field will be provided
when salts in crude
are low and vice versa.
 Used for max mixing of wash water,
Demulsifier and crude.
 Pressure difference across mixing valve is
important varying from few to60 psi
depending upon:
Nature of Crude
 ∆P should be increase with increase in salts
in crude and vice versa.
Operating Temperature
 At high operating Temperature ∆P should
be reduced and vice versa.
Flow Velocity:
 ∆P should be reduced when flow velocity is high
and vice versa.
Emulsifying agents presence in crude:
 ∆P should be reduced and vice versa.
Rules of Thumb:
 If Emulsion is reported from tri-cock, decrease in
∆P will help to normalize the process
 Reduce ∆P when salts are carry over with crude.
 Increase/Decrease ∆P by <5psiwhile maintaining
the cuff 6-12 inches thick. If cuff increased more
then 12 inches the ∆P must be lowered. If Cuff
decreased less then 6 inches, ∆P must be
increased.
 High pressure keeps system from boiling.
 Agitation results from boiling carry over lot of
BS&W.
 Operating level of water must be
maintained below lover electrode.
 Conductivity of water cause electric current
flow and could shut down the electric
system.
 If level is allowed to raise it will carry over
the interface with crude to the tower
causing tower upset and exchangers fouling
as well.
 Low level cause carry over of crude with
effluent water.
 Under design Desalter for current crude oil
and through put.
 Insufficient attention by operating person
 Improper operating conditions.
 Improper chemical dosage.
 Inadequate water wash supply , rate and
quality.
 Desalter efficiency can be calculated as:
SE = (Si – So ) * 100 / Si
Where:
SE salt removal efficiency (%)
Si salt content of raw crude oil (ptb)
So salt content of desalted oil (ptb).
Ptb stands for Pounds per Thousand Barrels
Desalter efficiency should be 90-95 %