Abstract:
The project regarding the solution of the two major concerns of the upstream oil refineries.
One is the formation of the water in oil emulsions at the well head of the oil extraction. The
water containing the salt concentration is needed to be removed from the crude oil. The
presence of BS&W (Basic Sediments and water) in the crude oil must be within the
contractual agreement. Usual range of BS&W in crude varies in the range of 0.2-3 %.
Generally, the chemical demulsification technique is used by different oil refineries but the
lack of efficiency of the system due to the variation in the supply of the surfactant is the
point of concern for the most of the industries as they are lacking the system that can inject
the stoichiometric amount of the de emulsifier in the system by taking into account the
variation in the concentration of the emulsifier in the feed at well head. The second major
problem is that of the precipitation of the asphaltene which is the most heavy class of the
compound present in the crude with the average molecular mass of around 700 kg/kmol.
The precipitation of asphaltene which is also known as asphalting is highly undesirable as
it further cause disturbance in the running plants. Enhanced pressure drop and poor heat
transfer of different equipment due to the asphalting is inevitable. The project was much
more focused on the chemical solution of the former and the physical solution of the later
problem
