The Most Common Methods Of Crude Oil Dasalting Process
If you are closely associated with an oil refinery industry, you must have heard of crude oil desalters. For those who don’t know, a crude oil desalter is a device that can be purchased and used in oil refineries to remove inorganic salts, water, and sediments. Removal of salts, water and sediments are necessary to avoid corrosion that takes place from the hydrolysis of chloride salts present in the incoming crude oil (magnesium chloride and calcium chloride). Any salt that is not removed at an early stage, represents a source of metal that can negatively impact a petroleum refinery process. Here are a few common methods of crude oil desalting. Chemical and electrostatic separation - Salt washes away from crude oil when water oil and water phases are separated in a settling container. On the next step, chemicals are added to break up the emulsion with the application of an electrostatic field. It also helps to subside the saltwater droplets more rapidly.