PROGRAM'S BACKGROUND

The desalting of crude oil is a process that does not have a high profile, but is vital to the operation of the modern petroleum refinery. Desalters provide more protection to costly refinery equipment than any other single piece of process hardware. This program is developed to provide an in depth, yet practical review of both the art and science of crude oil desalting, dehydration and emulsion.

The process for the desalting and dehydration of crude oil wherein, the crude oil is washed in one or several stages using fresh or recirculated hot water containing a demulsifier, the crude oil is also passed through a coalescence stage, and a settling stage aimed at obtaining a salt content to meet crude oil specifications. Subsequently the crude oil is led into a lower stripping compartment of a column, in which dehydration is carried out to the desired level by using fuel or combustion gas, the stripping temperature being reached by heating the crude or the gas or both, the gas vapor mixture being cooled in the upper compartment of the column by a cooling fluid such as the untreated crude oil or recirculated or fresh water, depending upon the nature and salt content of the crude. The cooled gas is recirculated within the column or led to a pipeline for consumption, while the cooling fluid, in the case of water, is recirculated in the unit.

Maintaining smooth operation of crude oil desalting units is both critically important and quite difficult. Since there are so many significant variables to control, desalter operation must constantly be adjusted to maintain optimum performance with the ever changing sources of crude oil. The program s content is both comprehensive and wide ranging. Sessions begin with a discussion of the fundamentals of the desalting process including crude oil quality impact, the operating variables, key equipment, various design options and major process variables. Once the fundamentals are established, discussion moves into the topics of unit operations, monitoring, and process troubleshooting. Participants will have the opportunity to obtain a broad working knowledge of desalter operations, to gain insight into advancements in the field, and to interact with others working in this area.

PROGRAM'S OBJECTIVES

This Program’s Attendees Will Be More Able To Know About:

›       Desalting and dehydration

›       Salt contamination

›       Measurement of salt related parameters

›       Desalting systems schemes

›       Electric field on desalting vessels (grid) and the effect of this grid for processing

›       Emulsion treating theory

›       Nature and formation of emulsions

›       Emulsions stability

›       Viscosity water percentage

›       Droplet size in emulsions

›       Emulsion breaking

›       Gravity setting

›       Chemical reaction

›       Deo emulsifiers

›       Deformer

›       Scale habiter

›       Heating reaction

›       Separator design

›       Principles of separation

PROGRAM'S ATTENDEES

›       Desalter Operators

›       Refinery Process Engineers and Operators

›       Maintenance Staff

›       Crude unit and waste water process Engineers

›       Main Gathering Center Coordinators

›       Plant Operations Engineers

›       Senior Process Engineers and General Supervisors

›       Personnel providing service to the petroleum refining industry

PROGRAM'S OUTLINE

BENEFITS OF CRUDE OIL DESALTING

IMPACT OF CRUDE OIL QUALITY ON DESALTER PERFORMANCE

›       Introduction to desalting

›       Crude oil impurities: water, salt and solids

›       Impact of organic acids, Asphaltene

›       Desalting heavy and opportunity crudes

›       Tank age dehydration

FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRICAL DESALTING

›       Wash water addition

›       Rate and wash water quality

›       Mixing/contact

›       Mix valves

›       Static mixer

›       Coalescence

›       Stoke s law and electrical voltage

›       Performance control variables

›       Dehydration efficiency vs. salt removal efficiency

TYPES OF DESALTING SYSTEMS

›       Single stage dehydrator

›       Single stage desalter

›       Two stage desalter

›       Three stage desalter

›       Typical operating conditions and performance

DESALTER COMPONENTS

›       Process vessel

›       Distribution system

›       Electrodes and Transactors

›       Mud wash

›       Level control devices

DESALTER DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

›       Vessel size

›       Number of stages

›       Transactor size and power consumption

›       Crude properties

FACTORS THAT AFFECT DESALTER OPERATION & PERFORMANCE

›       Crude oil feed rate and quality

›       Temperature/viscosity/density relationships

›       Electrical field intensity

›       Wash water rate, quality and flow configuration

›       Emulsion formation (pumps, exchangers, valves, mixers)

›       Control of water level and emulsion layers

›       Demulsifier technology and addition rate

›       Mud washing and brine recycle

TYPES OF DESALTING APPLICATIONS

›       Heavy crude desalting

›       FCC feed desalting

›       Distillate treating

THE EMULSIONS DEFINITIONS

›       Definition

›       Physical chemistry of emulsions D. Homogenization

›       Surface tension E. heat transfer

›       Colligative properties F. scale up effects

›       Micelles

›       HLB IV. evaluation and testing

›       Emulsion stabilizing methods a. stability

›       Liquid crystals b. efficacy

›       Spreading C. safety

CRUDE OIL EMULSION

›       Water plus crude equals emulsion

›       Advantages

›       Easier to extract

›       Easier to transport

›       Drawbacks

›       Problems in refinery

›       Problem: separate water from the crude oil

›       Solution: use demulsifier molecules (polymeric surfactant)

›       Constraints: use of chemical (type and concentration)

›       Environmental reasons

›       Need: test the efficiency of the additives (demulsifiers)

EMULSION CONCEPTS

›       Designing emulsions

›       Where to start

›       How to get a specific feel

›       Ingredients

›       Emulsifier behavior

›       Emulsifier location and phases

›       Polymeric emulsifiers

›       Emulsions without emulsifiers

MAKING EMULSIONS

›       Formulating methods

›       Ingredient

›       Mixing

›       Homogenization

›       Heat transfer

›       Scale up effect

EVALUATION & TESTING

›       Stability

›       Efficacy

›       Safety

›       Preservation

›       Claim substantiation

›       Use of the microscope

DEHYDRATION OF CRUDE OIL

›       Forms of water associated with produced oil

›       Water oil emulsions

›       Treatment of wet crude oil

DEHYDRATION OF NATURAL GAS

›       Water content of natural gas

›       Hydrate control in gas production

›       Dehydration systems

›       Glycol dehydrator design

›       Desalting of crude oil

AMOUNT OF SALT & QUANTITY OF WATER FOUND WITH CRUDE OIL

›       The desalting process

›       Process design considerations

OIL SEPARATION

›       Introduction to oil separation

›       Process flow and process description

›       Gas oil separation equipment

›       Operation and monitoring of GOSP

›       One phase separation

›       Two phase separation

›       Three phase separation

ADDITIONAL DETAILS