Modeling electrostatic separation for dehydration and desalination of crude oil in an industrial two-stage desalting plant

Aryafard, Elham; Farsi, M.; Rahimpour, Mohammad Reza; Raeissi, Sona

doi:10.1016/j.jtice.2015.06.028

Cited by 31 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…They noted that an increase in the rate of collision between water droplets promotes coalescence. The effect on the inlet flow rate of fresh water showed similar results to that of Aryafard et al [13]. Bresciani et al [7] proposed a mechanism for droplet-droplet collision and coalescence in the presence of an external electric field.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Results from their simulation showed that an increase in the inlet flow rate of fresh water from 3% to 6% increases the water separation efficiency from 96.5% to 98.5% which they validated with industrial data. Aryafard et al [13] further developed a mathematical model in order to determine the efficiency of removal of salt and water from raw crude oil stream in an industrial two-staged desalting process. Their study provided a trend, based on the effect of inlet flow rate of fresh water, pressure drop and magnitude of applied electric field on water and salt removal efficiencies which matched their previous study [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Numerical Study of Electrostatic Desalting Process Based on Droplet Collision Time

et al. 2021

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The desalting process of an electrostatic desalting unit was studied using the collision time of two droplets in a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion based on force balance. Initially, the model was solved numerically to perform a process analysis and to indicate the effect of the main process parameters, such as electric field strength, water content, temperature (through oil viscosity) and droplet size on the collision time or frequency of collision between a pair of droplets. In decreasing order of importance on the reduction of collision time and consequently on the efficiency of desalting separation, the following variables can be classified such as moisture content, electrostatic field strength, oil viscosity and droplet size. After this analysis, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a biphasic water–oil flow was developed in steady state using a Eulerian multiphase framework, in which collision frequency and probability of coalescence of droplets were assumed. This study provides some insights into the heterogeneity of a desalination plant which highlights aspects of design performance. This study further emphasizes the importance of two variables as moisture content and intensity of electrostatic field for dehydrated desalination by comparing the simulation with the electrostatic field against the same simulation without its presence. The overall objective of this study is therefore to show the necessity of including complex phenomena such as the frequency of collisions and coalescence in a CFD model for better understanding and optimization of the desalting process from both process safety and improvement.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Study of Electrostatic Desalting Process Based on Droplet Collision Time

et al. 2021

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“…), chemical materials used during the extraction process, and heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, etc.). Accordingly, all these compounds cause serious problems in petroleum refineries such as fouling, corrosion in equipment and pipelines, and toxicity of catalysts in the upstream facility [4,5]. Thus, emulsions should be divided into two phases-water and oil [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Separation Emulsion via Non-Ionic Surfactant: An Optimization

2019

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Achieving emulsion stability in the petroleum industry is a major challenge due to several problems encountered in the oil refining process, such as corrosion in equipment, high-pressure drops in pipelines, and catalyst poisoning in upstream facilities. Thus, several methods are applied for emulsion treatment and chemical treatment using surface-active agents, a fundamental method in the petroleum industry. The present work investigated the performance of a non-ionic surfactant in separating water in a crude oil emulsion via the bottle test technique. Then, a Fractional Factorial Design (2 K−1 ) was used to characterise the effect of significant variables. In particular, a Pareto chart was employed and factors such as demulsifier dosage, toluene concentration, pressure, sitting time, and temperature were investigated. Accordingly, the parameters applied were further analysed using a Central Composite Design (CCD) based on the Response Surface Method (RSM). The experimental results based on analysis of Variance (ANOVA) show that demulsifier dosage, temperature, and sedimentation times were the main variables affecting the dehydration process, with the highest F-values being 564.74, 94.53 and 78.65 respectively. The increase in the surfactant dosage before critical concentration, temperature and sitting time leads to boosting dehydration efficiency. In addition, a mathematical model was established for the variables, with a coefficient of determination value of 0.9688. Finally, numerical optimisation was performed on the variables and the results show that the optimal values are 1000 ppm, 15.5 mL, −400 mmHg, 120 min, and 90 • C, for demulsifier dosage, toluene concentration, pressure, sitting time, and temperature, respectively.

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“…Nevertheless, steady state simulation modelling in petrochemical process simulators environment is fairly standard today, and only little is known about the dynamic simulation in the research field [3]. Some steady state modelling and simulations of dehydration and desalting crude oil plants described in the literature [4][5][6][7][8]. In [4], a modified crude oil desalting unit to improve the dehydration efficiency is presented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, a new model to eliminate salts from a Sarir crude oil in Libya is presented in [6]. In [7,8], a desalting drum from a South Oil Company in Iran is modelled based on the electric field. However, petrochemical units do not operate in steady state; thus, these models are of limited usefulness in studying routing operation [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rigorous Dynamic Simulation of a Dehydration and Desalting Crude Oil Unit Using Aspen HYSYS®

Sotelo¹,

Favela‐Contreras²,

Ramírez-Mendoza³

et al. 2021

Int. j. simul. model.

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Considering that two-thirds of world oil production receive a treatment after extraction to remove water and salt contents, one of the most important processes to avoid operational problems in refinery plants corresponds to the dehydration and desalting unit. Here, live crude oil at high temperatures and pressures is processed and stabilized. Henceforth, to optimize these petrochemical plants, simulation has become an important tool. Nevertheless, due to its sequential modular nature related with mass/energy recycle steam circuits, the modelling and simulation of this process is commonly simplified. Thus, to reproduce the process behaviour of the unit under operating conditions and identify its effect on the final product, this work presents an unpublished rigorous dynamic simulation-based procedure of a complete real dehydration and desalting process using Aspen HYSYS ® . Different pieces of equipment are carefully designed based on literature review, and a specially tailored procedure is proposed to estimate the water and salt contents at any stage of the plant. Finally, to validate the simulation, the accuracy of the main flows and chemical contents along the process are compared with actual data.

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Modeling electrostatic separation for dehydration and desalination of crude oil in an industrial two-stage desalting plant

Cited by 31 publications

References 14 publications

Numerical Study of Electrostatic Desalting Process Based on Droplet Collision Time

Numerical Study of Electrostatic Desalting Process Based on Droplet Collision Time

Separation Emulsion via Non-Ionic Surfactant: An Optimization

Rigorous Dynamic Simulation of a Dehydration and Desalting Crude Oil Unit Using Aspen HYSYS®

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