Petroleum Refinery

Engineering

UNIT 1: STRIPPING AT WELLHEAD

AND GATHERING STATION
Prepared by: Mr Ali Abbas
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Stripping means to remove unwanted materials from .

process streams.

Crude oil contains some materials than can negatively

affect refinery process separation or process equipment.
These unwanted materials such as Sulphur compounds,
salts and any light gaseous hydrocarbons components
needs to be removed before starting crude oil distillation.
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Characterization of Crude oils

Characteristics Unit of measurements

Density and API gravity °API

Reid vapour pressure psia
H2S content ppm by weight
Mercaptan (methyl and ethyl) content ppm by weight

Total sulphur content % by weight

Water content and salinity % by volume
Paraffin content (wax) % by weight
Upper and lower cloud point °C
Pour point °C
Viscosity cP
Total acid number mg of KOH/g
Heavy metal content ppm by weight
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Density and API gravity

oAPI = 141.5/specific gravity – 131.5

Where specific gravity is measured at 60 oF.

The more API gravity the more light components the crude
oil contains.
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Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP)

The crude’s vapor pressure is a measure of its degree of

stabilization. The lower the pressure, the more stabilized
the product; this specification is thus essential for the
definition of treatment processes for the crude. It is
important to remember that even products like gasoline and
LPG have very strict constraints on vapor pressure
vapor pressure is a standardized measurement of the
pressure created inside a cylinder of standard size,
immersed in a thermostatic bath at 100°F (37.8°C) after
being partially filled with the liquid sample to be tested.
True Vapor Pressure (TVP) of about 12 psia, For crude oil
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Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) content

Although hydrogen sulphide is not the main contaminant of crude oils, it

is certainly the most dangerous.
The maximum value allowed may vary depending on the type of
stabilization chosen
If the process of sweetening the crude is carried out with stabilization
by fractionation rather than with more or less heated flash separations ,
a good stabilization always leads to the reduction of H2S to negligible
values.
By GOST (Gas-Oil Transport Specifications applied in Eastern
European and ex-Soviet countries)
specify a single value for transportation and commercialization. This
value is 20 ppm wt. It can reach up to 50 PPM in some western
countries, however, a greater sensitivity towards the problems linked to
pollution and safety have led to these values being lowered
considerably
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Mercaptan content (methyl and ethyl)

Mercaptans (RSH) are not desirable in petroleum

processes due to their aggressive corrosion ability to steel
walls.
In this same context, the GOST are extremely
restrictive, and set out a specific concentration
standard of 60 ppm by weight (as methyl and ethyl
mercaptan).
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Total sulphur content

Sulphur content is extremely important for the

commercialization of the product, but is of minor relevance
in field processing. Theeffects are semeral to mercaptans
Typically, crude oil sulphur content consists of 0.5 – 5 wt %
of sulphur
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Water content and salinity

Allowable BS&W for crude oil transportation is 0.05%

the salinity of oil in the refinery should be reduced to values
below 3 ptb (pounds per thousand barrels), equivalent to
about 8.6 g/m3.During production activities, this value is
uncommon: the most frequently used is 20 ptb,
corresponding to 57.5 g/m3.
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Cloud point, pour point, paraffin content

• The cloud point is the temperature at which microcrystals

of paraffin begin to form in the crude oil production. If the
temperature drops further, the crude loses its original
properties and turns into an increasingly dense gel. It
becomes extremely viscous, and can no longer flow
through the pipeline.
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Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the flow properties of the refinery

stream. Typically in the refining industry, viscosity is
measured in terms of centistokes (termed as cst) or saybolt
seconds or redwood seconds. Usually, the viscosity
measurements are carried out at 100 oF and 210 oF.
Viscosity is a very important property for the heavy
products obtained from the crude oil. The viscosity acts as
an important characterization property in the blending units
associated to heavy products such as bunker fuel.
Typically, viscosity of these products is specified to be
within a specified range and this is achieved by adjusting
the viscosities of the streams entering the blending unit.
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Total acidity

The crudes with high acidity have a lower sales price, thus
making it advisable to reduce this value.

total acidity range 0.25 mg of KOH/g.

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Heavy metal content

The heavy metal content has no impact on field treatments.

A desalting process that involves washing with water may
reduce their presence in the form of salts, although this is
not a significant objective in field treatment. In some very
rare cases, when it is convenient to use the stabilized
crude as a fuel to generate electrical energy, the heavy
metal content is reduced only in the amounts used for this
purpose, as specified by the suppliers of engines and
turbines.
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Treatments

Desalting
Desalting by washing with water:
It is often necessary to desalt the crude by reducing the
salinity of the emulsified water. A desalting system consists
of a mixer-settler type system which allows the salinity to
be diluted by mixing the oil with washing water with a low
salt content (1 g/l). The diluted water is then separated out
by decanting, thus bringing the oil to the same or lower
value for water cut as before mixing. This equipment can
be inserted downstream of separation as an additional unit.
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Sweetening

When an oil has a high hydrogen sulphide content, the gas-

oil separation and stabilization processes must necessarily
take place. In the past, the cold stripping method was
commonly used. This system uses a stripping column
working at close to atmospheric pressure, in which a gas
stream with a low-medium hydrogen sulphide content
removes this component from the oil stream to be treated
(Fig. 8). This operation is known as cold stripping since it is
unnecessary to heat the oil in order to carry out the
removal required.
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Sweetening
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Sweetening

Disadvantages: unwanted stripping of light hydrocarbons

(propane, butane and gasoline).
Stripping columns Design:
Steam stripping columns contain either trays or packing,
depending on the application. These trays and packing are
the same as those used in distillation and absorption
columns.

Tray types include sieve, valve, and bubble cap.

Packing types include dumped packing and stacked
packing. The packing channels the liquid flowing from the
top to the bottom of the column
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Sweetening
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Stabilization and stripping with a cold column

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Demercaptanization

Mercaptan must therefore be neutralized by transformation

into disulphides.
The job performed by washing the stablized crude oil with
caustic soda (NaOH)

• R-SH + NaOH NaSR + H2O

• 2R-SH + O2 2R'-S-S-R + 2H2O
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Demercaptanization
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Demercaptanization