Iv Pt-Ogpd-Unit-Iii

ADITYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE (A)
UNIT – III
Oil Treaters
By
Mrs. HIMA BINDU KOLLI
Assistant Professor
Department of Petroleum Technology
Aditya Engineering College (A)
Surampalem.
• An oil treater is a separator vessel with a fire tube immersed in the

liquid fluid phase to separate water and gas from oil-water emulsions.
• It has an integrated free water knockout section to remove any non-
entrained water and help reduce the fuel consumption.
• Treaters are typically located just before the oil sales storage tanks and
operate at low pressures to produce stock tank oil.
• The oil-water emulsion is “said to be treated” to ensure the oil is of
high-quality to meet oil pipeline and sales specifications
Oil & Gas Processing Plant Design (OGPD) Mrs. Hima Bindu Kolli Thursday, February 22, 2024
Types of Oil Treaters:

Vertical Treaters
• The vertical treaters have traditional designs and are commonly used
where there is moderate or no gas flow.
• They are better suited to treat and process a low volume of emulsions
that have 27 API gravity or lighter oil and high-water content.
Horizontal Treaters
• Horizontal treaters are commonly used to process a more substantial
volume of emulsions with any API gravity.
• They are widely used in complex operations where water and oil
weigh about the same.
Bucket Treaters
• They are a popular model of treaters used to process medium to light
oil emulsions.
• Bucket Treaters are equipped in the downstream near a free-water
knockout to remove the remaining water in the emulsion.
• They are quite easy to use and have an operator-friendly design.
Packed Treaters
• A packed treater offers an efficient oil flow.
• It is best suited for all types of emulsions, particularly for the hard-to-
treat applications
Electrostatic Treaters
• Like a packed treater, an electrostatic treater uses electricity through a
transformer to offer increased productivity.
• It is a 3-phase separator typically used to separate oil, water and gas. It
provides the highest efficiency by nearly doubling the treating
capacity of the emulsion
Operating Principle of a Treater:

• The emulsion enters the separator vessel, and gas is vented out the top.
• Any free water in the emulsion drops to the water section and dumped out
the bottom to a produced water tank.
• Then, the emulsion can pass over the fire tubes and is heated to the
required temperature. This process helps to coalesce the water droplets.
• The emulsion flows into the oil treating portion of the separator for the
separating process. Some treaters also have an excelsior section or hay
that serves as a filtering media to separate any solids from the oil.
• The equipment has dump valves that are used to control the height of the
oil and water liquid phases of fluid.
• The clean oil, free of any impurities, exits the oil treater to a sales oil tank.
General Considerations in Design of oil treating systems:

• The major factors controlling the sizing of emulsion treating
equipment are
• Heat input required,
• Gravity separation considerations,
• Settling equations,
• Retention time equations,
• Water droplet size.
Heat Input Required:

• The heat input and thus the fuel required for treating depend on the
temperature rise, amount of water in the oil, and flow rate.
• Heating water requires about twice as much energy as it does to heat
oil.
• Assuming that the free water has been separated from the emulsion,
the water remaining is less than 10% of the oil, and the treater is
insulated to minimize heat losses.
Gravity Separation Considerations:

• Most oil-treating equipment relies on gravity to separate water
droplets from the oil continuous phase, because water droplets are
heavier than the volume of oil they displace.
• However, gravity is resisted by a drag force caused by the droplets’
downward movement through the oil.
• When the two forces are equal, a constant velocity is reached, which
can be computed from Stokes’ law
Stokes’ law conclusions:

• The larger the size of a water droplet, the larger the square of its
diameter and, thus, the greater its downward velocity will be. That is,
the bigger the droplet size, the less time it takes for the droplet to settle
to the bottom of the vessel and thus the easier it is to treat the oil.
• The greater the difference in density between the water droplet and the
oil phase, the greater the downward velocity will be. That is, the
lighter the crude, the easier it is to treat the oil. If the crude gravity is
10 oAPI and the water is fresh, the settling velocity is zero, as there is
no gravity difference.
• The higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity of the oil and, thus,
the greater the downward velocity will be. That is, it is easier to treat
the oil at high temperatures than at low temperatures (assuming a
small effect on gravity difference due to increased temperature).
Settling Equations
• The specific gravity difference between the dispersed water droplets
and the oil should result in the water “sinking” to the bottom of the
treatment vessel.
• Since the oil continuous phase is flowing vertically upward in both
vertical and horizontal treaters previously described, the downward
velocity of the water droplet must be sufficient to overcome the
velocity of the oil traveling upward through the treater. By setting the
oil velocity equal to the water settling velocity.
Limiting factor in vertical treaters:

• The height of the coalescing section for a vertical treater does not
enter the settling equation. The cross-sectional area of flow for the
upward velocity of the oil is a function of the diameter of the vessel
alone.
• In a horizontal vessel, the cross-sectional area for flow for the upward
velocity of the oil is a function of the diameter times the length of the
coalescing section.
Gun barrel treaters:

• The equations for gun barrels are like those for vertical treaters since
the flow pattern and geometry are the same.
• However, gun-barrel tanks experience a great deal of short-circuiting
due to uneven flow distribution. This is a result of the large tank
diameter.
• The sizing equation for gun-barrels includes a short-circuiting factor
“F.” This factor accounts for imperfect liquid distribution across the
entire cross section of the treating vessel or tank and is a function of
the flow conditions in the vessel.
Horizontal Flow Treaters

• In horizontal flow settling, the water droplets settle perpendicular to
the oil flow. By setting the oil retention time equal to the water settling
time, the following equation may be used:
Retention Time Equations:
• The oil must be held at temperature for a specific period to enable de-
emulsifying the water-in-oil emulsion.
• This information is best determined in the laboratory but, in the
absence of such data, 20 to 30 minutes is a good starting point.
• The retention time in the coalescing-settling section of a treater is the
volume of the coalescing-settling section divided by the oil flow rate.
• The volume of the coalescing-settling section is a function of the

square of the vessel diameter and the length of the flow path of the
coalescing section.
• Depending on the specific properties of the stream to be treated, the
geometry required to provide a certain retention time may be larger or
smaller than the geometry required to satisfy the settling equation. The
geometry of the vessel is determined by the larger of the two criteria.
Water Droplet Size:
• Assuming that the minimum required size of droplets that must be
settled is a function only of oil viscosity, equations have been
developed correlating this droplet size and oil viscosity
Design Procedure - General Design Procedure

• Choose a treating temperature.
• Determine the heat input required
• Determine oil viscosity at treating temperature. In the absence of
laboratory data, Chapter 3 provides correlations that can be used to
estimate crude viscosity given its gravity and temperature.
• Select a type of treater, and size the treater using the appropriate
design procedure below.
• Choose the design minimum droplet size that must be separated from
experimental data, analogy to other treaters in service
• Repeat the above procedure for different treating temperatures.
• Sizing horizontal and vertical treaters- Design of LTX units and line
treaters- Material of construction and mechanical design
Sizing of treater equipment
• The major factors controlling the sizing of emulsion treating
equipment are
1. Heat input required,
2. Gravity separation considerations,
3. Settling equations,
4. Retention time equations,
5. Water droplet size.
Produced Water Treatment
 Production of crude oil and natural gas is usually associated with the production of water.
 The produced water may be water that exists within the petroleum reservoir as connate water or
bottom water.
 Production of water also results in serious corrosion problems, which add to the cost of the
operation.
 Water production presents serious operating, economic, and environmental problems.
 Production of water with the crude oil or natural gas reduces the productivity of the well due to
the increased pressure losses throughout the production system.
 This may either result in reduced production or necessitate the installation of costly artificial
lifting systems to maintain the desired production levels.
 In most situations, the produced water has no value and should be disposed of.
 The produced water, collected from the separation, emulsion treatment, and desalting
systems, contains hydrocarbon concentrations that are too high for environmentally
safe disposal.
 In other situations, the produced water may be used for water flooding or reservoir
pressure maintenance and also for enhanced recovery operations.
 The presence of the hydrocarbon droplets in the water makes it difficult to inject the
water into disposal wells or into water-injection wells for enhanced recovery
operations.
PRODUCED WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
 In general, produced water always must be treated before it is disposed of or injected

into the reservoir.
 The purpose of the treatment is to remove enough oil from the water such that the
remaining amount of oil in the water and the oil droplet size are appropriate for the
disposal or injection of the water.
 Depending on the amount and droplet size of the oil in the produced water, the
required quality of the treated water, and the operating conditions, water treatment may
be achieved through a single or two stages of treatment.
 The single, or first, stage of treatment is normally known as the primary treatment
stage; the second stage of treatment is known as the secondary treatment stage.
For primary treatment, this may be achieved by using skim tanks for
atmospheric treatment or skim vessels for treatment under pressure. Plate-
coalescers such as the parallel plate interceptor and corrugated plate
interceptor are used to promote coalescence of the oil droplets to increase
their size and thus speed their floatation to the surface. Another device,
known as the SP pack, is also used to promote coalescence of the oil
droplets.
For secondary treatment, plate interceptors, SP packs, and flotation units

are normally used.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT
 The main function of the treating equipment is to separate the free oil droplets
from the water.
 The fluid may contain some dissolved gas, which will be liberated in the treating
equipment and must be removed.
 Therefore, the produced water treatment equipment are, in essence, similar to
the three-phase oil–water–gas separators.
 The main difference is that for water treatment equipment, water is the main and
continuous phase and oil represents a small volume of the fluid mixture.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-FILTERS
 One of the very efficient ways of removing oil droplets from water is the use of filters. In
this method of water treatment, produced water is made to flow through a bed of porous
medium, normally sand, where the oil droplets are trapped in the filtering medium. At least
two filters arranged in parallel are used. As the filter in use gets clogged, the flow is
directed to the other filter and the clogged filter is backwashed using water or solvent.
 The backwash fluid must be treated or disposed of properly, which adds more
complications and cost to the water treatment process. Several onshore successful
operations have been reported in which sand filters were used to yield treated produced
water with oil content as little as 25 mg/L of water.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PRECIPITATORS
 In this method of treatment, the produced water is directed through a bed of

porous material, such as excelsior, placed inside a horizontal vessel that is
similar in design to the three-phase separator to promote the coalescence of oil
droplets.
 The coalesced large oil droplets flow upward, countercurrent to the downward
flow of the water where it can be skimmed out of the vessel.
 Although this method has been effective in treating produced water to desired
quality, clogging of the coalescing medium represented a serious problem,
which limited the use of such precipitators.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-SKIM TANKS AND VESSELS
 The skim tanks and vessels are the simplest equipment used for primary treatment of
produced water.
 Skim tanks and skim vessels are generally similar in shape, components, and function.
 However, the designation of skim tanks is associated with atmospheric treatment, whereas
skim vessels are used when water treatment is performed under pressures above the
atmospheric pressure.
 Skimmers can be either horizontal or vertical in configuration. The shape and internal
components of the skimmers are generally similar to those of the three-phase separators.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-SKIM TANKS AND Aditya Engineering College (A)
VESSELS
Horizontal skimmer
 Figure shows a schematic of a horizontal

skimmer. As shown in the figure, the
produced water enters the skimmer below
the water–oil interface and flows
horizontally along the length of the vessel.
The oil droplets coalesce and rise to the oil
pad perpendicular to the direction of the
water flow.
 The oil flows over the weir into the oil collection section and out of the skimmer. The
height of the oil pad is controlled by the weir as shown in Figure.
 Alternatively the height of the oil pad may be controlled by an interface level controller
or by an external water leg. The treated water is withdrawn from the skimmer at the
bottom of the vessel. The liberated gas leaves the vessel at the top through a mist
extractor.
Vertical skimmer:
 Vertical skimmer is equipped with an inlet spreader and a water

outlet collector, which work to even the distribution of the
incoming and outgoing flow, respectively.
 Water flows downward while the oil droplets rise upward to the
oil pad. Because of this countercurrent flow of the water and oil,
vertical vessels are generally less efficient than horizontal vessels.
 The oil is skimmed over the weir into the oil collection section, where it is withdrawn
from the vessel. The water outlet is at the bottom of the vessel through the water
collector. The liberated gas leaves at the top of the vessel through a mist extractor.
Vertical vessels are preferred over horizontal vessels when treating water
containing sand or other solids.
Further, vertical vessels are better than horizontal vessels with regard to handling
liquid surges. Surging in horizontal vessels tends to create internal waves, which
results in a false indication of a high liquid level within the vessel and leads to
false high-level shutdown.
Another type of skimmer is the API separator, which is basically a horizontal,

rectangular cross-section tank. This type of skimmer is mostly used for treatment
under atmospheric conditions.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PLATE COALESCERS
There are mainly two types of plate coalescers

1. Parallel plate interceptors (PPI)
2. Corrugated plate interceptors (CPI).
Both types consist of a set of parallel plates that are spaced a short distance apart and are
inclined by an angle of 45⁰.
Parallel plate interceptors (PPI)

 The PPI was the first form of plate coalescers where a series of inclined parallel plates is
installed inside an API separator. The water flow is split between the plates; therefore,
the oil droplets need first to rise along the short distance between two consecutive
plates where coalescence occurs.
Parallel plate interceptors (PPI)
Due to gravity, the large oil droplets move

upward along the bottom surface of the
inclined plate and then vertically upward to
the oil collection section, where oil is
skimmed out of the tank. Sediments in the
water move downward to the bottom of the
tank, where they can be removed.
Oil droplets rise between two consecutive

plates in the PPI.
Corrugated plate interceptors (CPI):
 The CPI is the most commonly used plate

interceptor in the industry. The CPI was an
improvement over the PPI, where the
surface of the parallel plates was made
corrugated with the axis of the corrugations
being parallel to the direction of water flow.
 The water to be treated flows downward through the CPI pack. The oil rises upward,
counter to the water flow and accumulates at the corrugations. The accumulated oil
flows along the axis of corrugations and upward to the oil–water interface.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-SERPENTINE-PIPE PACKS
 The serpentine-pipe pack (SP pack) is another device that is used to promote
coalescence of the oil droplets and thus facilitates their separation by gravity.
 The coalescence concept for the SP pack is, however, different from that of the
previously described equipment.
 Water is forced to flow through a serpentine path that is properly sized to create
turbulence that is sufficient to cause coalescence without causing shearing of oil
droplets below a specified size.
WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-FLOTATION UNITS
 Flotation units utilize a completely different concept is removing oil droplets from
water.
 In this type of treatment equipment, a large number of small gas bubbles are produced
within the water.
 As the gas bubbles rise upward, they carry the oil droplet to the surface, where they
accumulate and are then skimmed out of the unit.
 Flotation units are classified into two types based on the method by which the gas
bubbles are produced. These are the dissolved gas units and the dispersed gas units.
Dissolved Gas Flotation Units:
 A portion of the treated water (between

20% and 50% of the effluent) is taken and
saturated with natural gas in a contactor at
a pressure between 20 and 40 psi. The
amount of gas used in standard cubic feet
(SCF) ranges from 0.2 to 0.5 SCF/bbl of
water to be treated.
 The gas-saturated water is recycled back into the unit, which operates at a pressure
lower than that of the gas–water contactor. Due to the reduction in pressure, the
dissolved gas breaks out of solution as small bubbles.
Dissolved Gas Flotation Units:
 The gas bubbles carry the oil droplets with them as they move to the surface. The size
and depth of the unit are determined to provide retention times between 10 and 40
min.
 The equipment manufacturer normally determines the detailed design parameters of
the unit based on the specific operating conditions.
Dispersed Gas Flotation Units
 In this type of flotation unit, the gas bubbles are created, introduced, and dispersed
into the bulk of the water to be treated.
Crude Oil Desalting
Purpose of crude oil desalting

• Crude oil introduced to refinery processing contains many undesirable
impurities, such as sand, inorganic salts, drilling mud, polymer,
corrosion byproduct, etc.
• The purpose of crude oil desalting is to remove these undesirable
impurities, especially salts and water, from the crude oil prior
to distillation
• The salt content in the crude oil varies depending on source of the
crude oil.
• When a mixture from many crude oil sources is processed in refinery,
the salt content can vary greatly.
The most concerns of the impurities in crude oil:

• The Inorganic salts can be decomposed in the crude oil pre-heat
exchangers and heaters.
• As a result, hydrogen chloride gas is formed which condenses to liquid
hydrochloric acid at overhead system of distillation column, that may
cause serious corrosion of equipment.
• To avoid corrosion due to salts in the crude oil, corrosion control can
be used.
• But the byproduct from the corrosion control of oil field equipment
consists of particulate iron sulfide and oxide.
• Precipitation of these materials can cause plugging of heat exchanger

trains, tower trays, heater tubes, etc.
• In addition, these materials can cause corrosion to any surface they are
precipitated on.
• The sand or silt can cause significant damage due to abrasion or
erosion to pumps, pipelines, etc.
• The calcium naphthanate compound in the crude unit residue stream,
if not removed can result in the production of lower grade coke and
deactivation of catalyst of FCC unit
Benefits of Crude Oil Desalting

• Increase crude throughput
• Less plugging, scaling, coking of heat exchanger and furnace
tubes
• Less corrosion in exchanger, fractionators, pipelines, etc.
• Better corrosion control in CDU overhead
• Less erosion by solids in control valves, exchanger,
furnace, pumps
• Saving of oil from slops from waste oil
Desalting process Aditya Engineering College (A)
The desalting process is completed in following steps:

• Dilution water injection and dispersion
• Emulsification of diluted water in oil
• Distribution of the emulsion in the electrostatic field
• Electrostatic coalescence
• Water droplet settling
• Crude oil passes through the cold preheat train and is then pumped to
the Desalters by crude charge pumps.
• The recycled water from the desalters is injected in the crude oil
containing sediments and produced salty water.
• This fluid enters in the static mixer which is a crude/water disperser,
maximizing the interfacial surface area for optimal contact between
both liquids.
• The wash water shall be injected as near as possible emulsifying device to

avoid a first separation with crude oil.
• Wash water can come from various sources including relatively high salt sea
water, stripping water, etc.
• The static mixers are installed upstream the emulsifying devices to improve
the contact between the salt in the crude oil and the wash water injected in the
line.
• The oil/water mixture is homogenously emulsified in the emulsifying device.
The emulsifying device (as a valve) is used to emulsify the dilution water
injected upstream in the oil.
• The emulsification is important for contact between the salty production water
contained in the oil and the wash water.
• Then the emulsion enters the Desalters where it separates into two phases by
electrostatic coalescence.
• The electrostatic coalescence is induced by the polarization effect

resulting from an external electric source.
• Polarization of water droplets pulls them out from oil-water emulsion
phase. Salt being dissolved in these water droplets, is also separated
along the way.
• The produced water is discharged to the water treatment system
(effluent water).
• It can also be used as wash water for mud washing process during
operation.
• A desalting unit can be designed with single stage or two stages.
• In the refineries, the two stages desalting system is normally applied,
that consists of 2 electrostatic Coalescers (Desalter).
Desalter:
• The equipment used for the removal of salts, suspended solids and water-soluble
trace metals /slits, iron oxides, sand etc.
Purpose:
• To reduce fouling and plugging of crude oil fractionators and exchangers due to
salt deposition.
• To reduce rate of corrosion of crude oil fractionators.
• To avoid lengthy and expensive plant shutdowns.
• To reduce consumption of Neutralizers.
• To remove Metals which may poison Reformer Catalyst.
• To achieve more then average Plant Life.
• To obtain high degree of operating flexibility due to slug or high tank bottom
abnormalities.
Crude Salt’s Chemistry:

• These salts are mainly chlorides and sulfates of Calcium and Magnesium
like NaCl, MgCl2, CaCl2 and MgCl2.
• Chlorides hydrolyzed to hydrochloric acid cause severe corrosion.
CaCl2 + H2O → Ca(OH)2 +HCl
• Salts act as catalyst to Plugging of Exchangers and formation of coke (hot
spots) in heater tubes.
• Salts in residue contain high ash content causing degradation of product.
• Slats are generally measured in PTB (parts per thousands barrels).
• Salts concentration in crude depends upon the Source of Crude.
• Salts are inorganic in nature and are soluble in water (inorganic) and
insoluble in crude (organic)
Cuff Header:
• Exist above the effluent header.
• To drain emulsion with out disturbing water level

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ADITYA ENGINEERING COLLEGE (A)

• An oil treater is a separator vessel with a fire tube immersed in the

Types of Oil Treaters:

Operating Principle of a Treater:

General Considerations in Design of oil treating systems:

Heat Input Required:

Gravity Separation Considerations:

Stokes’ law conclusions:

Limiting factor in vertical treaters:

Gun barrel treaters:

Horizontal Flow Treaters

• The volume of the coalescing-settling section is a function of the

Design Procedure - General Design Procedure

Produced Water Treatment

 Water production presents serious operating, economic, and environmental problems.

 In general, produced water always must be treated before it is disposed of or injected

For secondary treatment, plate interceptors, SP packs, and flotation units

 In this method of treatment, the produced water is directed through a bed of

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-SKIM TANKS AND VESSELS

 Figure shows a schematic of a horizontal

 Vertical skimmer is equipped with an inlet spreader and a water

Another type of skimmer is the API separator, which is basically a horizontal,

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PLATE COALESCERS

There are mainly two types of plate coalescers

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PLATE COALESCERS

Parallel plate interceptors (PPI)

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PLATE COALESCERS

Parallel plate interceptors (PPI)

Due to gravity, the large oil droplets move

Oil droplets rise between two consecutive

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-PLATE COALESCERS

Corrugated plate interceptors (CPI):

 The CPI is the most commonly used plate

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-SERPENTINE-PIPE PACKS

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-FLOTATION UNITS

Dissolved Gas Flotation Units:

 A portion of the treated water (between

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-FLOTATION UNITS

Dissolved Gas Flotation Units:

WATER TREATMENT EQUIPMENT-FLOTATION UNITS

Dispersed Gas Flotation Units

Crude Oil Desalting

Purpose of crude oil desalting

The most concerns of the impurities in crude oil:

• Precipitation of these materials can cause plugging of heat exchanger

Benefits of Crude Oil Desalting

The desalting process is completed in following steps:

• The wash water shall be injected as near as possible emulsifying device to

• The electrostatic coalescence is induced by the polarization effect

Crude Salt’s Chemistry:

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