Page : 1 of 67

KLM Technology Rev: 01

Group
Practical Engineering Engineeing Solutions
Guidelines for Processing
Plant Solutions Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com

Co Author:
KLM Technology Group Kolmetz Handbook
P. O. Box 281 Rev 01 Aprilia Jaya
Bandar Johor Bahru, of Process Equipment Design
80000 Johor Bahru,
Johor, West Malaysia
CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM Editor / Author
SELECTION, DESIGN AND
Karl Kolmetz
TROUBLESHOOTING

(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 4

Scope 4

General Design Consideration 5

DEFINITIONS 18

NOMENCLATURE 21

THEORY OF THE DESIGN 33

Emulsion Drop Theory 37

Design Procedures 44

1. Single stage 44
 Page 2 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

2. Two Stage 46

Dual Polarity Design 49

Troubleshooting 53

Stability of Emulsions 55

APPLICATION

Example 1: Single Stage Desalter 56

Example 2: Two Stage Desalter with Recycle 58

REFEREENCES 61

CALCULATION SPREADSHEET

Single Stage Desalter.xls 63

Two Stage Desalter with Recycle.xls 64

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1: The contaminants which removal for a single-stage unit 41

Table 2: Pounds of salt per 1000 barrels of oil 42

Table 3: Common troubleshooting in desalting 53

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 3 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 1: Relationship between salt content of oil to water salinity 6

Figure 2: Catalysts activity loss from sodium contamination 8

Figure 3: Schematic of crude oil desalting 11

Figure 4: Typical Single Stage Desalter1 3

Figure 5: Typical Multi Stage Desalter 15

Figure 6: Two Stage Desalting with Recycle 16

Figure 7: Two Stage Desalting with Recycle and Internal Recycle 17

Figure 8: The Electro-Dynamic Desalter System 19

Figure 9: Dual Polarity AC/DC Field 20

Figure 10: Combination AC/DC Electrostatic Fields 23

Figure 11: Voltage Modulation for Electrostatic Mixing/Coalescing 24

Figure 12: Scheme of Desalter vessel 36

Figure 13: Conversion of ppm NaCl to ppb of water chart 43

Figure 14: Flow sheet of single stage desalting 45

Figure 15: Flow sheet of two stage with recycle desalting 47

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 4 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

INTRODUCTION

Scope

Oil produced in most oil fields is accompanied by water in the form of an emulsion that
must be treated. In addition, this water normally contains dissolved salts, principally
chlorides of sodium, calcium, and magnesium. If crude oil is left untreated, when it is
processed in a refinery the salt can cause various operating and maintenance problems.

This design guideline covers the basic elements of Crude Unit Desalter System design
in sufficient detail to allow an engineer, operations or maintenance personnel to
understand the design, operation and maintenance criteria for a crude unit Desalter
system with the suitable water wash flow, injection water, and settling velocity.

The design of Desalter may be influenced by factors, including process requirements,

economics and safety. In this guideline, there are tables that assist in making these
factored calculations from the vary reference sources. Include in this guideline is a
calculation spreadsheet for the engineering design. All the important parameters use in
the guideline are explained in the definition section which help the reader understand the
meaning of the parameters or the terms used.

The theory section explains the type of Desalter (single stage, two stage and dual
polarity), troubleshooting and emulsion drop theory. The application section of this
guideline with the examples will make the user understand a Desalter and its operation.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 5 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

General Design Consideration

Heavy crude oil is becoming an increasingly more important option in terms of crude oil
refining due to the fact that this type of feedstock is generally cheaper in the international
market. Crude oil production is usually associated with the co-production of varying
amounts of water, formation solids, and corrosion products. The water frequently contains
sizeable concentrations of dissolved salts with the chlorides, sulfates, and bicarbonates
of alkali metals and in which alkaline earths predominate.

Separation processes are applied at the production site in order to minimize the
unnecessary transportation costs and to prevent corrosion in the transportation system.
When crude oil is processed in the refinery, salt can cause numerous operating and
maintenance problems.

Salt occurs naturally in all crudes but can vary significantly in concentration and makeup
between crudes. The salt content of crude oil is highly variable and results principally from
production practices used in the field. Salt may be derived from reservoir, aboard tankers,
ballast water of varying salinity, formation waters or from other waters used in secondary
recovery operations. The bulk of the salt present will be dissolved in coexisting water and
can be removed in Desalter, but small amounts of salt may be dissolved in the crude oil
itself.

The salts that are most frequently found present in crude oil feed stocks are sodium,
calcium and magnesium chlorides (NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2) although other forms of salt
can be present in smaller quantities. If these compounds are not removed from the oil
several problems arise in the refining process.

Figure 1 shows the relationship between total salt content lbs/1000 bbl, in the produced
oil and the salinity of the remnant brine in the oil when 0.1 of 1% saltwater remains in the
oil.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 6 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

70

60
Pounds Per Thousand Barrels of Oil

50
Equivalent Sodium Chloride

40
In

30

20

10

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Salinity of Brine in Thousands of Parts Per Million
(Equivalent Sodium Chloride)
Figure 1: Relationship between salt content of oil to water salinity

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 7 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Even in small concentrations, salts will accumulate in stills, heaters, and exchangers,
leading to fouling that requires expensive cleanup. Below are some effects of salts.

1. During flash vaporization of crude oil certain metallic salts, the high temperatures that
occur downstream in the process could cause water hydrolysis that can be hydrolyzed
the metallic salts to hydrochloric acid which extremely corrosive. According to the
following reactions:

2NaCl + H2O → 2 HCl + Na2O

MgCl2 + H2O → 2 HCl + MgO

CaCl will typically hydrolyze first with MgCl requiring higher temperatures. NaCl on the
other hand has a high hydrolyzation temperature not normally reached in a crude
charge furnace. For this reason Caustic or NaOH can be injected into the Desalter
crude stream to lower overhead chlorides. (3)

2. Salts and evolved acids can contaminate both overhead and residual products, and
certain metallic salts can deactivate catalysts.

3. Salt cakes out inside equipment, cause poor flow and plugging

4. If a certain amount of salt remains it may cause fouling problems in pipes and reduces
heat transfer rates in exchangers, and cause high heater tube-wall temperatures.

5. Plugged fractionators trays and burned-out fire tubes

6. Metals from salts can also cause catalyst deactivation and sintering which result in
lower catalyst activity. Sodium has been found to be the most harmful metal for
catalysts

Metals from salts can also cause catalyst deactivation and sintering which result in lower
catalyst activity. Sodium has been found to be the most harmful metal for catalysts. This
decrease in activity implies that used catalyst must be replaced more often to maintain a
given activity level.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 8 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

80

70
Catalyst Activty, MAT

60

50

40
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Na on catalyst as Na2O, wt%

Figure 2: Catalysts activity loss from sodium contamination

Scale develops and accumulates by means of calcium sulphides precipitations. This

accumulations takes place in heating tubes and may cause the following problems (2):

1. Reduction in heat transfer rate, which leads to more fuel consumptions and thus
higher operating cost.
2. Creation of "Hot Spots" in heating tubes, which reduces tubes' operational expected
lives.
3. Development of blockages inside tubes and thus lowering their capacities and
efficiencies.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 9 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

The amount of salt going into the charge furnace must be controlled to minimize corrosion
in the downstream equipment. Since facilities are designed for a specific corrosion
allowance it is critical that salt and corrosion to be controlled and to stay at or below the
design limits.

The purpose of desalting is to remove contaminants from crude oil before it enters the
processing units. By removing the contaminants at the onset it is possible to minimize
corrosion and fouling in downstream units.

Refiners usually desalt the entering crude to less than 1 PTB (lb salt/1000 bbl) or the salt
content on crude. Desalting in the field reduces corrosion downstream while the crude is
transported either in pipelines or tankers. In addition the desalted water can, after suitable
treatment, be re-injected back into the reservoir. This solves any environmental problems.

Desalting which follows the initial dehydration or emulsion breaking, consist of (4):

1. Adding dilution (or less saline) water to the crude

2. Mixing this dilution water with the crude to dilute the sediment and water (S&W)
droplets in the crude
3. Dehydration (emulsion treating) to separate the crude oil and diluted brine (S&W)
phases.

The result is to dilute the original S&W droplets and so reduce the salt content (PTB) for
comparable levels of crude dehydration (remnant vol % S&W). Desalting can be
performed in a single stage or in two stages, depending on the requirements of the
refinery. Dehydration efficiency of a Desalter is usually 95% in a single stage and up to
99% in two stages (5).

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 10 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

The conventional equipment required for stage desalting includes:

1. A free-water knockout (FWKO) or heater treater for the initial brine removal or
emulsion treating.
2. A tee for injecting the dilution water.
3. A mixing device to co-mingle the dilution water with the S&W drops entrained in
the brine
4. A second treater (nearly always an electrostatic heater treater) to separate the
crude and the dilution water.

When designing a Desalter, its type and size are all dependent on a number of operational
factors such as required pressure, temperature, viscosity and flow rate, as well as user
specification relating to maximum salt amount (PTB) allowed in the product oil stream.
Figures 1 below shows a schematic of crude oil desalting respectively (6).

A typical process scheme is illustrated as follows:

1. Wet crude flow to wet tank.

2. Demulsifier / Chemical injection.
3. Crude flow to heat exchanger.
4. Flow to heater.
5. Wash water recycled from 2nd stage vessel.
6. Flow to 1st stage desalting mixing valve.
7. Mixed fluid to 1st stage vessel.
8. Flow to 2nd stage desalting mixing valve.
9. Fresh water from water-water heat exchanger originated from wash water tank.
10. Treated crude flow.
11. Effluent water from 1st stage Desalter vessel to water treatment plant and / or
disposal pit.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 11 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

12. BS&W Analyzer - A signal to diverting Valve.

13. Formation (free) water settled down at the bottom of wet tank, to water treatment
plant and / or disposal pit
10

Dry Heater 1st Stage 2nd Stage

Desalter Desalter
Tank
7

3
6 8
Wet 11
Crude to
9
Tank
5
wet 2 Recycle Water
1
tank
12 13 Recycle
To wet tank

To dry tank

Wash
water
tank

To wet
tank

Figure 3: Schematic of crude oil desalting (7)

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 12 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

From figure 1 above, an emulsion comprises of water and oil flows to a wet tank. a
common emulsion may contain up to 25% water cut. Water and salt of the crude must be
reduced to 0.10% vol. and 5.0 PTB in typical Desalting/Dehydration Plant, respectively
(TPL, 1992). A two-stage desalting system is used to remove such large quantities of
water from the oil stream. The emulsion, leaves the wet tank, where the primary water
separation takes place (stream 2). Chemical/demulsifier is injected into the stream prior
to feed pumps. After settling for a period of several hours, formation water (stream 13)
flows to waste water treatment plant or disposed to a designated disposal pit.

In stream 3, emulsion flow from the wet tank to a heat exchanger, where heat is recovered
from the treated crude product stream 10. The emulsion then flows to a water-bath indirect
heater, raising its temperature (stream 4). Water recycled from 2nd stage vessel (stream
no. 5) injected into the emulsion flow coming out of the heater. At the mixing valve (no.
6), recycled water and emulsion agitated by an induced shearing force. The operation of
a mixing valve is carried out by a simple globe valve where an operator would set the
differential pressure across the valve to be as high as possible ensuring better mixing of
the two fluids.

The mixing fluid enter to 1st stage Desalter where emulsion is exposed to a high voltage
electrostatic field. the electrostatic field coalesces the dispersed water phase and gravity
causes the enlarged water droplets to fall and collect in the bottom of the vessel then
leaves the system to a wastewater treatment plant or the disposal pit (stream 11). This
effluent water contains various impurities and salts removed from the water-in-oil
emulsion.

Treatment of an emulsion (still contains salt water) is further enhanced in the second
stage desalting vessel (stream 8) and mixed with fresh water (stream 9). treated emulsion
is introduced near the bottom of the 2nd stage partially and travels upward through an
electrical voltage grids. In this stage, water droplets are enlarged by means of high voltage
electrostatic field and separated by gravity. The separated water is collected at the bottom
of the vessel and recycled to the first stage Desalter (stream 5), while the treated crude
flows from the top of the vessel (stream no. 10).

Desalter sizing is strongly influenced by viscosity which is dependent on the operating

temperature. A Desalter feed temperature of at least 70˚C should be allowed in the design

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 13 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

of very viscous oils. Higher temperatures will decrease the size of Desalter vessels, but
is a trade-off of vessel cost versus heating costs.

Single Stage Desalter

Crude Desalter
Storage
Mixing
Crude Charge Preheat Valve
Pump Exchangers

Brine to
Fresh Wash disposal
Water

Chemical Atmospheric
Injection Distillation
Column
Preheat Charge
Exchangers Furnace

Figure 4: Typical Single Stage Desalter

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 14 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Crude oil is typically brought into a refinery by pipeline and goes to the raw crude tanks.
This can be a single tank or multiple tanks with various different crude blended together.
Ideally the crude charge tanks will have continuous mixers but some facilities operate
with static tanks which is not advisable since it does not allow for a fully blended feed.

The crude is then pumped to be heated into a series of heat exchanges against hot
overhead and product side streams in the Crude Unit prior to entering the Desalter to a
temperature of anywhere from 230-300F depending on the type of crude and the facility.

At a preheat temperature of about 200–250◦F water is injected into the crude to dissolve
salt that is usually present. The mixture enters a Desalter drum usually containing an
electrostatic precipitator. The salt water contained in the crude is separated by means of
this electrostatic precipitation. The water phase from the drum is sent to a sour-water
stripper to be cleaned before disposal to the oily water sewer.

The crude is then desalted and leaves the Desalter at 190 F then send through another
set of exchanges, then into a crude charge furnace which is leaves at 600 F and finally
into the crude unit distillation column.

The desalting process works by mixing raw crude oil with water in a mix valve with a high
differential pressure. This causes the water and oil to form an emulsion with the salt
mostly dissolved in the water phase. During mixing, salt content in oil is washed with the
water and a W/O emulsion is formed. This emulsion is then broken in the Desalter by use
of gravity, heat, electrical energy and chemical additives.

If mixing is good, dehydration efficiency can be compared with desalting efficiency as

most of the salt passed from the organic phase into the water phase. In actual operation,
water and oil are preheated and mixed in a 1:20 ratio.

It is common that a demulsifier substance is also added, usually 0.005 to 0.01 lb/barrel
[6]. Mixture takes place in a mixing device, which is commonly a valve with a 5 to 20 psi
pressure drop. It has been observed that good mixing allows for appropriate salt removal
from oil.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 15 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Two Stage Desalting

Crude
Storage 1st Desalter
Mixing
Crude Charge Preheat Valve
Pump Exchangers

2nd Desalter Atmospheric

Distillation
Preheat Column
Exchangers Charge
Furnace
Fresh Water Brine to
disposal

Figure 5: Typical Multi Stage Desalter

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 16 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

The techniques of emulsion breaking (demulsifier injection, heating, phase separation of

any vapor or pressure stabilization, and electrostatic coalescence) may be required If co-
mingling the crude and dilution water produces a stable emulsion

In single desalting, the required dilution water injection rate is usually 5-7% of the crude
flow rate. Field desalting is often required in regions where fresh water is the scarcest.
Two stage desalting usually reduces the dilution water required to 1-2%of the crude flow
rate.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 17 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

DEFINITIONS

Gravity separation - refers to the primary free settling of water and is related to the
residence time that takes place in both settling tanks and desalting vessels.

AC – Alternating electrical current

Desalination - Process of removing salts from water sources

Fouling – The reduction in performance of process equipment (heat transfer tubing,

membranes, etc.) that occurs as a result of scale buildup, biological growth, or the
deposition of colloidal material.

Membrane – In desalting, used to describe a semipermeable film. Membranes used in

electrodialysis are permeable to ions of either positive or negative charge. Reverse
osmosis and nanofiltration membranes ideally allow the passage of pure water and block
the passage of salts

Precipitate – A substance separated from a solution by chemical or physical change as

an insoluble amorphous or crystalline solid.

Saline water – Water with dissolved solids exceeding the limits of potability. Saline water
may include sea water, brackish water, mineralized ground and surface water, and
irrigation return flows.

Salt diffusion – The movement of ions or molecules under influence of a concentration

difference.

Solubility – A measure of the maximum amount of a certain substance that can dissolve
in a given amount of water, or other solvent, at a given temperature.

Specific conductance (conductivity) – Quantitative expression for the capability of a

particular solution to conduct electricity. It is defined as the conductance of a cube of that
particular water that is 1 cm long and has a cross sectional area of 1 cm2. Conductivity
is usually expressed in micromohos per centimeter.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 18 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Stage – A unit of desalting equipment capable of purification and separation of the feed
water into product and concentrate. If separation is insufficient, more than one stage can
be arranged in series

Turbidity – Opaqueness or cloudiness caused by the presence of suspended particles

in water, usually stirred-up sediments. The turbidity of a water is measured by its capacity
for absorbing or scattering light.

S&W content – Oil, as produces from the well and production equipment, may contain
considerable amounts of brine, as well as solid materials. The water solids content is
refferes to as sediment and water (S&W) or basic sediment and water (BS&W).

Demulsifier – or demulsifying chemicals are a mixture of chemicals used to break the

emulsion by destroying a weakening the stabilizing film around the dispersed droplets.

Electrodes or grid – plates or rods used to establish the electric field in electrostatic
treaters.

Electrostatic treater - treater using electric fields in the oil coalescing area.

Emulsifier - in addition to oil and water, a third substance called an emulsifier or

emulsifying agent must be present for a stable emulsion to be produced. The emulsifiers
usually exist as a film on the surface of the dispersed droplets.

Emulsion – a combination of two immiscible liquids. One liquid is broken into droplets
and is known as the discontinuous, dispersed, or internal phase. The liquid that surrounds
the drops is continuous or external phase.

Interface – the contact surface between the boundaries of the two immiscible liquids
(e.g., the surface area between water droplets and the surrounding oil or the surface
between separated crude and water in a vessel.

Water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion – Crude oil emulsions nearly always consist of water drops
dispersed in a continuous oil phase. This type is also called a regular or normal emulsion

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 19 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

Desalting – Reducing the salt content of a crude oil by diluting the entrained/emulsified
water and then dehydrating.

Dehydration – Removing water droplets or S&W or BS&W from crude oil (sometimes
called treating)

Oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion – an emulsion consisting of oil drops disperse in a

continuous water phase. This do-called reverse emulsion often occurs on waste waters
and produced brines. The water content is generally greater than 85 volume percent.

Wetting – refers to the adhesion or sticking of a liquid to a solid surface. If the solid
surface (grain of reservoir rock, fines, etc) is covered preferentially by oil, the surface is
called oil wetted. Conversely, if water is preferentially attracted, the surface is water
wetted.

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 20 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

NOMENCLATURE

A Water in inlet stream, bbl

B Water in clean oil, bbl
C water to Desalter inlet, bbl
Cso the salt content of the oil, lbm/1,000 bbl;
Csw the concentration of salt in produced water, ppm;
d diameter of droplet
E Mixing efficiency, %
E1 Mixing efficiency of V with A as fraction, %
E2 Mixing efficiency of Y with B as fraction, %
Ec critical voltage gradient
Ef electric field gradient, m
ɛo permittivity of free space, farad/m
ɛoil dielectric constant of crude oil
Fd drop flow, m3/s
Fd* drop flow at current operating temperature, m3/s
Fe electrostatic force, N
FO(in) oil inflow, m3/year
fw the volume fraction of water in crude oil.
FW(in) water inflow, m3/year
FW(out)* water outflow at current operating temperature, m3/ year
g Gravity, m/s2
h distance covered by the drop, m.
K Dielectric constant for the system
K1 Salt per barrel of water to facility, lb
K2 Salt per barrel of dilution water, lb
K3 Salt per barrel of water to Desalter inlet, lb
K4 Salt per barrel of water to second stage Desalter, lb
R water to second stage Desalter, bbl
RWO water/oil feed ratio.
S Water to first stage Desalter, bbl
SGw the specific gravity of produced water
T Clean (water-free)crude volume, bbl
V Recycle water to injection in first stage inlet line, bbl

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.
 Page 21 of 67
Kolmetz Handbook
KLM Technology
of Process Equipment Design Rev: 01
Group
Practical Engineering CRUDE UNIT DESALTER SYSTEM
Guidelines for Processing Plant SELECTION, DESIGN
Solutions
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Rev 01 - Nov 2014
www.klmtechgroup.com
(ENGINEERING DESIGN GUIDELINES)

V Water to disposal, bbl

Vd volume of water drop, m3.
VS Settling rate, m/s
x center-to-center distance drops, m
X1 fraction of water in produced oil stream
X2 Fraction of water in clean oil outlet
X3 Fraction of water in second stage outlet oil
Y Injection water of lesser salinity than inlet water, bbl
Z Salt in outlet clean oil/1000 barrels of net oil, lb

Greek Leters

η dehydration efficiency
θd drop’s residence time, s
ρO density of oil, kg/m3
ρW density of water, kg/m3
σ surface tension
µO dynamic viscosity of oil, kg/m s.

Superscript

A Water in inlet stream, bbl

B Water in clean oil, bbl
C water to Desalter inlet, bbl
E Mixing efficiency, %
Y Injection water of lesser salinity than inlet water, bbl
Z Salt in outlet clean oil/1000 barrels of net oil, lb

These design guideline are believed to be as accurate as possible, but are very general and not for specific design
cases. They were designed for engineers to do preliminary designs and process specification sheets. The final design
must always be guaranteed for the service selected by the manufacturing vendor, but these guidelines will greatly
reduce the amount of up front engineering hours that are required to develop the final design. The guidelines are a
training tool for young engineers or a resource for engineers with experience.

This document is entrusted to the recipient personally, but the copyright remains with us. It must not be copied,
reproduced or in any way communicated or made accessible to third parties without our written consent.