Modeling electrostatic separation for dehydration and desalination of crude oil in an industrial two-stage desalting plant

•A new steady state modeling of crude oil desalting is carried out.•The desalting plant is considered as mixing valve and AC electrostatic desalting drum.•The desalting drum is modeled in two sections based on the electric field.•The effect of mixing valve pressure drop and electric field strength is investigated in two stages desalting plant.•The results of modeling are compared with industrial data.

The aim of present study is to develop a mathematical model to predict water and salt separation efficiencies in an industrial two stages crude oil desalting process. The considered process consists of mixing valve and electrostatic drums connected in series. The desalting plant is modeled based on the population balance method considering water droplet breakage and coalescence terms to predict droplet size distribution. The class method as a common mathematical technique is selected to solve population balance equation. The accuracy of the developed mathematical model and considered assumption is evaluated using taken data from an industrial desalting plant. Then, the effect of mixing valve pressure drop, flow rate of fresh water and strength of electric field is studied on the desalting and dehydration efficiencies. The simulation result shows that increasing flow rate of fresh water from 3% to 6% decreases salt content in the treated crude oil from 2.06 to 0.71 PTB.

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