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of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 164

 Field Processing Operations of Crude Oil
Flare
Sulfur
Removal
Transport

Acid Gas Recovery Transport

Dehydration
Removal of NGL Reinjection
Oil
Processing
Storage
Stabilization
Transport

Phase Dehydration H2S Storage

Gathering Stabilization
Separation /Desalting Removal Transport

Disposal
Water Treatment
Reinjection

Solid Treatment Disposal

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Oil Processing Overview

 Dehydration: to remove water from the oil stream;

 Desalting: to remove inorganic scale (salts) from the oil stream;

 H2S removal: to remove the hydrogen sulfur from the oil stream

 Stabilization: to remove the remaining gases (e.g. solution

gases, light-weighted non-hydrocarbon, …) to maintain stability
for safe transportation and/or storage.

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 Review of Oil Characterization

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Major Types of Hydrocarbons

1. Parafins: Straight-chain or branched-chain alkanes;

2. Naphthenes: Similar to parafins but with a chain that is

joined at the ends to form 5- or 6-membered rings;

3. Aromatics: have Benzen (double bonds) as a basic

member

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Characterization Factors of Hydrocarbons
(Nelson, 1966)

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The Need for Oil Dehydration

 To obtain the permissible content of water (0.1 –

3 weight %) required by purchasers
 Water lowers the API gravity and reduces the oil
price
 Corrosion risks associated with mineral salts in
produced waters or with refining water-bearing
crude oil

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 Basic Principles of Oil Dehydration

Demulsifying Breaking the emulsion

Droplet Coalescence Coalescence of small

water droplets

Water Droplet Settling & Settling of water droplets

Separation and removal of free water

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Demulsifying Functions

Demulsifying chemical has four functions:

- Strong attraction to oil-water contact (approaching
emulsifier on the interface)
- Flocculation (neutralizing repulsive charges)
- Coalescence (merging water droplets)
- Solid wetting (preventing fines at the droplet
interface from blocking coalescence)

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 Review of Emulsion

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Factors Affecting on Emulsion Stability (ES)

• Viscosity of oil:
– ES is lower for a less viscous oil phase
• Density or gravity difference between oil and water
phases:
– ES decreases with a larger difference
• Interfacial tension (IFT) between the two phases:
– ES is low if IFT is lowered
• Size and percentage of dispersed water droplets:
– The larger the size and percentage of water droplets
are, the lower the ES will be.
• Salinity of emulsified water:
– ES is low in a highly saline water

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History of Demulsifying Chemicals

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Major Types of Demulsifying Chemicals

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 Oil Dehydration Process (cont’d)
Chemicals
and/or Heat

Wet Breaking
Removal of
Crude Oil the
Free Water
Emulsion

Dehydrated Settling &

Crude Oil Removal of Coalescence
Water Drops

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Basic Approach of Crude Oil Dehydration

Free Suspended Emulsified

Water Water Water

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Electrostatic Heater-Treater

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Closer Look at EHT Equipment

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Electrostatic Coalescence Mechanism
When a non-conductive liquid (oil) containing a dispersed
conductive liquid (water) is subjected to an electrostatic
field, the conductive particles or droplets are caused to
combine.

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Electrostatic Coalescence Mechanism

• The droplets become polarized and tend to align

themselves with the lines of electric force.

• The positive and negative poles of the droplets are

brought adjacent to each other. As a result, electrical
attraction brings the droplets together and causes them
to coalesce.

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Electrostatic Separation – Detailed
Explanation

• Water droplet is made up of polar molecules (oxygen

negative charges and hydrogen positive charges)

• The polar forces are magnetized and respond to an

external electrical field

• Dipole attraction between the water droplets in the

emulsion is established, leading to droplet coalescence

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Electrostatic Separation – Detailed
Explanation
• As a result of the high-voltage field, the water droplets
vibrate rapidly, causing the stabilizing film to weaken and
break
• The surface of water droplets expand due to the vibration
and the electric field, causing them to further attract to
each other and finally collide and coalescence
• As the water droplets combine, they grow in size and
finally settle down to the bottom of the treater

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Effect of Electrical Field on Coalescence

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Chemical Treatment of Emulsion

• Chemical additives (de-emulsifiers)

are special surface-active agents
comprising high-molecular-weight
polymers

• Once adsorbed to the water-oil

interface, demulsifiers can rupture
the stabilizing film and displace the
stabilizing agent due to the
reduction of surface tension on the
water side of the droplet.

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Chemical (Demulsifier) Injection
(upstream of the choke)

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Chemical (Demulsifier) Injection
(downstream of the choke)

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 Methods of Heating Oil Emulsions

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Heater-Treater Design

• Objective: Selection & sizing of the equipment for oil

dehydration

• Major design considerations:

– Temperature of emulsion

– Retention time

– Viscosity of the oil

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Smallest Water Droplet Size

To achieve required water content in the treated oil, the

following correlation between water droplet diameter dm
and oil viscosity mo can be used:

• For electrostatic heater-treaters:

 mm for 3 cp < mo < 80 cp

• Otherwise,

 mm for mo < 80 cp

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Water Droplets Settling Constraint
For the settling of water droplets to occur, the upward average velocity of
the oil must not exceed the water droplet settling velocity:

where

ud: Water droplet settling velocity, ft/s

Dg: The difference between water and oil specific gravities
dm: The diameter of water droplet, mm
mo: Oil viscosity, cp
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 Water Droplets Settling Constraint
The upward average velocity of the oil is obtained using the oil volumetric
flow rate, Qo and the flow cross-sectional area, A:

Or

uo: upward average velocity of oil, ft/s

D: The diameter of the treater inside diameter, in
L: The effective length of the settling/coalescence section, ft

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Water Droplets Settling Constraint
The water droplet settling constraint can be satisfied with the following
equality:

Dg: The difference between water and oil specific gravities

dm: The diameter of water droplet, mm
mo: Oil viscosity, cp
Qo: The volumetric flow rate of oil, bbl/d

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Retention Time Constraint
The retention time t must be long enough to fill the volume of the
settling/coalescing section with oil, Vo according to the oil volumetric
flow rate Qo. Assuming that the oil occupies up to 75% of the
coalescing/settling section, one has:

Solving for we get:

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Heat Requirement

, (Btu/h)

p (subscript): Phase of fluid (oil, water)

qp: Rate of heat transferred or gained of phase p, Btu/h
mp: The mass flow rate of phase p, lb/h
cp: The specific heat of fluid of phase p, Btu/lb/oF
DT: The increase in temperature due to heat transfer, oF

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Heat Requirement

, (Btu/h)

qt: Total heat transferred or gained, Btu/h

l: Percent of heat lost
Qo: Volumetric flow rate of oil, STB/d
cp: Specific heat of phase p, Btu/lb/oF
gp: The specific gravity of phase p,
DT: The increase in temperature due to heat transfer, oF
WCT: Water cut
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Heater-Treater Sizing Procedure
1. Decide the treating temperature so as to minimize loss of oil volume.
Normally laboratory test data is needed;
2. Determine the diameter of the water droplet that must be removed
3. Obtain the relation between the diameter D and length L that
satisfies the settling constraint;
4. Obtain another relation between D and L that satisfies the retention
time constraint;
5. Compare the results from Steps 3 & 4 and select a combination of D
and L that satisfies both constraints
6. Determine the heat requirement for the selected treating
temperature

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Exercise
Determine the heat requirement and the size of the settling/coalescing
section of a heater-treater for the following conditions:
Quantity Value Unit
Oil flow rate 5000 STB/D
Inlet Bottom Sediments and Water (BS&W) 15%
Outlet BS&W 1%
Oil specific gravity 0.86
Oil viscosity
@ 85oF 45
cp
@ 105oF 20
@ 125oF 10
Water specific gravity 1.06
Specific heat of oil 0.5 Btu/lb/oF
Specific heat of water 1.1 Btu/lb/oF
o
Inlet temperature 85 F
Retention time 20 min
Treating temperature
105 o
F
125
no heat
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