Engineering Encyclopedia Process

Crude Oil Desalting

Source of Salts and Contaminants in Crude (Cont'd)

Initial "oil treating" or dehydration of crude oil production usually takes place in the oil field
to reduce the volume of water moving through the transportation system. Most crudes can be
electrostatically dehydrated to the 0.1% to 0.5% BS&W range. Some heavier (under 20_API)
and more viscous crudes (greater than 18 cSt at operating temperature) can only be reduced to
the 0.5% to 5.0% BS&W range. Depending on the crude oil source, the amount of salt that is
acceptable for export markets is typically 10 ptb. While this is not low enough to achieve the
fouling and corrosion control desired in a refinery, it is low enough for single-stage desalting
at the refinery to achieve such desirable salt levels.

Typical Desalter Performance

Properly sized and operated single-stage desalting is capable of meeting most refinery salt-in-
crude requirements for reduced corrosion and fouling when handling lighter oils (30_API or
higher). Desalting efficiencies ranging between 85% and 95% can be expected for a properly
sized and operated unit. Efficiencies between 85% and 90% can be anticipated for heavy
crudes (20_API or lower) or crudes blended with residua that are more difficult to desalt.

Salt concentrations in the feed to a refinery desalter generally range between 10 and 100 ptb,
depending upon source, extent of field treating, and transportation and handling operations
prior to desalting. The salt content of feeds to Saudi Aramco production facility desalters is in
the range of 4,000 ptb and above. Salt concentrations in the crude leaving refinery single-
stage desalters are generally between 3 and 10 ptb. Although such salt levels are adequate for
minimizing fouling and corrosion in refinery crude preheat exchangers and pipestill
operations, salt levels below 1 ptb may be required in the heavy feeds to cat cracking units, to
reduce catalyst poisoning by sodium in the feed or ammonium chloride plugging in the cat
cracker fractionator. To achieve such low salt levels, two-stage desalting may be required.
With two-stage desalting, salt removal efficiencies approaching 99% can be achieved. Also,
large water slugs can be removed with minimal effect on a refinery pipestill operation.

Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards 5