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CHAPTER 2 :
DEHYDRATION &
EMULSION TREATMENT

CHAPTER 2
1. Introduction
OUTLINE 2. Oil emulsions
3. Dehydration process
4. Removal of free water
5. Dehydration method

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INTRODUCTION
• The fluid produced at the wellhead consists usually of gas, oil, free water and
emulsified water.
• Before oil treatment, we must first remove the gas and free water from the well stream
to reduce the size of the oil-treating equipment.

INTRODUCTION
• The gas and most of the free water in the well stream are removed using separators.
Gas, which leaves the separator, is known as “primary gas”.
• During the oil treatment processes gas will be liberated because of the reduction in
pressure and application of heat. This gas known as “secondary gas”.
• The free water removed in separators is limited normally to water droplets of 500
μm and larger.
• The oil stream leaving the separator would normally contain water droplets
that are 500 μm and smaller in addition to water emulsified in the oil.
• This oil has yet to go through various treatment processes (dehydration, desalting,
and stabilization) before it can be sent to refineries or shipping facilities.
• The objectives of dehydration process is first to remove free water and then break the
oil emulsions to reduce the remaining emulsified water in the oil.

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INTRODUCTION

• Depending on the original water content of the oil as well as its salinity and the
process of dehydration used, oil-field treatment can produce oil with a remnant
water content of 1%.

• The remnant water is normally called the bottom sediments and water (B.S.&W.)

• The basic principles for the treating process are as follows:

 Breaking the emulsion, which could be achieved by either any, OR a
combination of:
 the addition of heat
 the addition of chemical, or
 the application of electrostatic field.
 Coalescence of smaller water droplets into larger droplets.
 Settling, by gravity, and removal of free water.

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OIL EMULSIONS
• Oil production will produce saline water with oil
in different forms.
• Apart from free water, emulsified water (water-
in-oil emulsion) is the one form that poses all of
the concerns in the dehydration of crude oil.
• Oil emulsions are mixtures of oil and water.
• Emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids,
one of which is dispersed as droplets in the other
and is stabilized by an emulsifying agent.
• In the oil field, crude oil and water are
encountered as the two immiscible phases
together.
• They normally form water-in-oil emulsion (W/O
loose emulsion containing
emulsion), in which water is dispersed as fine about 30% emulsified
droplets in the bulk of oil. water in the form of
droplets

FORMATION FACTORS OF EMULSION

1. The two liquids must be immiscible.
2. There must be sufficient energy of agitation to disperse one phase into the other:
Emulsions normally do not exist in the producing formation but are formed because of the
agitation that occurs throughout the oil production system.
3. There must be the presence of an emulsifying agent.
• If an oil emulsion is viewed through a microscope, many tiny spheres or droplets of water will be
seen dispersed through the bulk of oil.
• A tough film surrounds these droplets; this is called a stabilizing film.
• Emulsifying agents, which are commonly found in crude oil or water in the natural state
or introduced in the system as contaminants during drilling and/or maintenance operations,
create this film.
• Some of the common emulsifiers are as follows:
1. Asphaltic materials
2. Resinous substances
3. Oil-soluble organic acids
4. Finely dispersed solid materials such as sand, carbon, calcium, silica, iron, zinc,
aluminum sulfate, iron sulfide.

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FACTORS TO CONSIDER DURING

DESIGNING DEMULSIFICATION TREATMENT
• Viscosity of oil
• Density or specific gravity
• Interfacial tension between two phases
(Emulsifying agents and water)
• Size of dispersed water droplets
• Percentage of dispersed water
• Salinity of emulsified water

Question : Discuss on how each

factor can affect the demulsification
treatment?

DEHYDRATION/ TREATING PROCESSES

• The method of treating “wet” crude oil for
the separation of water associated with it
varies according to the form in which
water is found with the crude.
• FREE-WATER REMOVAL is the first
step of treatment followed by the
SEPARATION OF “COMBINED” OR
EMULSION WATER along with any
foreign matter such as sand and other
sediments.
• The basic approaches of handling
“wet” crude oils are illustrated in
Figure.

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REMOVAL OF FREE WATER

• Free water is simply defined as that water produced with crude oil and will settle
out of the oil phase if given little time.
• There are several good reasons for separating the free water first:
 Reduction of the size of flow pipes and treating equipment.
 Reduction of heat input when heating the emulsion (water takes about
twice as much heat as oil).
 Minimization of corrosion because free water comes into direct contact
with the metal surfaces, whereas emulsified water does not.
• Free water removal takes place using a knockout vessel, which could be an
individual piece of equipment or incorporated in a flow treater.

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• Oil-field separators can be classified into two types based

on the number of phases to separate:
1. Two-phase separators, which are used to separate
gas from oil in oil fields, or gas from water for gas fields.
2. Three-phase separators, which are used to separate
the gas from the liquid phase, and water from oil.
• Oil from each producing well is conveyed from the wellhead
to a gathering center through a flow line. The gathering
center, usually located in some central location within the
field, will handle the production from several wells in order to
process the produced oil–gas mixture.
• Separation of the oil phase and the gas phase enables the
handling, metering, and processing of each phase
independently, hence producing marketable products.
• Free water knockout (FWKO) is a specialized separator
which is used to remove large amounts of free water
from crude oil prior to crude dehydration.

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COMMON TYPES OF WATER KNOCKOUT DRUMS

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RESOLUTION OF EMULSIFIED OIL

• This is the heart of the dehydration process, which consists of three
consecutive steps:
1. Breaking the emulsion: This requires weakening and rupturing
the stabilizing film surrounding the dispersed water droplets. This
is destabilization process and is affected by using what is called an
“aid”, such as chemicals and heat.
2. Coalescence: This involves the combination of water particles
that became free water after breaking the emulsion, forming
larger drops.
3. Gravitational settling and separation of water drops: The larger
water droplets resulting from the coalescence step will settle out
of the oil by gravity and be collected and removed.

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TREATING THE EMULSION

• As explained earlier, using chemicals followed by settling can break

some emulsions.
• Other emulsions require heating and allowing the water to settle out of
the bulk of oil.
• More difficult (tight) emulsions require, however, both chemicals and
heat, followed by coalescence and gravitational settling.
• Basically, a dehydration process that utilizes any or a combination of
two or more of the treatment aids mentioned earlier (heating, adding
chemicals) is used to resolve water-oil emulsions.

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1. HEATING
• One of the common ways for treating water-oil emulsions.

• Equation below can be used to understand how heating aids in the resolution of water-oil
emulsions & separation of water droplet from the bulk oil.

Question : Based on the equation given above. Discuss on

how heating can aid the separation of water droplet.

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METHODS OF HEATING OIL EMULSIONS

• The fuel used to supply heat in oil-treating operations is practically natural gas. Under
some special conditions, crude oil may be used.

• Heaters are generally of two basic types:

1. Direct heaters, in which oil is passed through a coil exposed to the hot flue gases of the
burned fuel or to introduce the emulsion into a vessel heated using a fire tube heater.

2. Indirect heaters, in which heat is transferred from the hot flue gases to the emulsion via
water as a transfer medium. The emulsion passes through tubes immersed in a hot
water bath.

• In general, the amount of free water in the oil emulsion will be a factor in determining
which method is to be used.

• If free water is found to be 1-2%, then use an indirect heater.

• If the free water content is more enough to hold a level around the fire tube, then use a direct
heater.

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HEATER TYPES

QUESTION : What are the disadvantages of heating treatment?

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2. CHEMICAL TREATMENT
• Some oil emulsions will readily break upon heating with no chemicals added.

• Others will respond to chemical treatment without heat.

• A combination of both “aids” will certainly expedite the emulsion- breaking process.

• Chemical additives, recognized as the second “aid” are special surface-active agents
comprising relatively high-molecular-weight polymers.

• A demulsifier, as it reaches to oil-water interface, function in the following pattern:

flocculation, then film rupture, followed by coalescence.

• The faster the demulsifier reaches the oil-water interface, the better job it achieves.

• Common injection points are :

Upstream at choke

Upstream of the level control valve of separator

If no gas-oil separator, the injection point is placed 200-250 ft from emulsion treater

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DEMULSIFIERS
Action of demulsifiers Type of demulsifiers :
• Strong attraction to the oil-water interface
• Flocculation
• Coalesce
• Solids-wetting

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MECHANISM OF CHEMICAL DEMULSIFICATION

Breaking the emulsion

(A chemical agent/ Demulsifier migrates to the

chemical demulsifier is a oil–water interface and
surface-active compound) breaks the stabilizing film

Settling Coalescence
(by gravity)
water droplets then coalesce and form
larger droplet for easier settling

Hence separating the water

droplet from the emulsion

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DEMULSIFIER INJECTION POINTS

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3. ELECTRICAL AID
• The principle of breaking oil-water emulsions using electrical current is known as
‘electrostatic separation’. High voltage field is used to help dehydration

• Aimed to speed up the ‘coalescence’ and settling of water droplets.

• The coalescence is considered the controlling step for dehydration process as first and third
steps are relatively fast.

• Methods to improve coalescence

(1) Installing coalescence medium in settling section

to speed build up
(2) Applying centrifugal force to the emulsion
(3) Applying electrical field

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MECHANISM OF ELECTRICAL AID

DEMULSIFICATION
1. The water droplet is made up of polar molecules,
because the oxygen atom has a negative end, and
the hydrogen atoms have positive charges. These
polar forces are magnetized and respond to an
external electrical force field.
2. Due to the high-voltage field, the water droplets
vibrate rapidly, causing the stabilizing film to
weaken and break.
3. The surface of the water droplets expand thus
attracted to each other, they collide and then
coalesce.
4. As the water droplets combine, they grow in size
until they become heavy enough to separate by
settling to the bottom of the treater.

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES USING

ELECTROSTATIC TREATING METHOD
Advantages
 Electrostatic coalescer is popular because the space and weight can be
minimized.
 Can reduce chemical consumption.
 Allows the treating process to operate at lower temperatures than those of
conventional treaters. The use of lower temperature reduces fuel costs.

Disadvantages
 The use of additional electrode involve additional capital expenses, control
and maintenance cost
 For cold weather operation, it may be necessary to use heating element in
this unit

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Question : What are the differences between

Heating VS Chemical Treatment VS Electrostatic
for the oil dehydration process?

• Medium used?
• Method/mechanism?
• Advantages?
• Disadvantages?

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REFERENCES

List of References:
[1]. Guo, Boyan, and Ali Ghalambor. Natural Gas Engineering Handbook.
Elsevier, 2014.
[2]. Petroleum Engineering: Principles and Practice. Springer Science &
Business Media, 2012.
[3]. Abdel-Aal, Hussein K., Mohamed A. Aggour, and Mohamed A. Fahim.
Petroleum and Gas Field Processing. CRC Press, 2015.
[4]. Francis S. Manning and Richard E. Oilfield Processing of Petroleum
Volume 2: Crude Oil. PennWell Publishing
[5]. Mokhatab, Saeid, and William A. Poe. Handbook of Natural Gas
Transmission and Processing. Gulf Professional Publishing, 2012.

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