Treater Equipment Sizing

The major factors controlling the sizing of emulsion treating equipment are  

The heat input and thus the fuel required for treating depend on the temperature rise, amount of water in the oil, and flow rate. Heating water requires about twice as much energy as it does to heat oil. For this reason, it is beneficial to separate any free water from the emulsion to be treated with either a FWKO located upstream of the treater or an inlet FWKO system in the treater itself. 

Assuming that the free water has been separated from the emulsion, the water remaining is less than 10% of the oil, and the treater is insulated to minimize heat losses, the required heat input can be determined from 

Most oil-treating equipment relies on gravity to separate water droplets from the oil continuous phase, because water droplets are heavier than the volume of oil they displace. However, gravity is resisted by a drag force caused by the droplets downward movement through the oil. When the two forces are equal, a constant velocity is reached, which can be computed from Stokes law as (Stokes law was derived in the Gas-Liquid and Liquid-Liquid Separation volume). 

The specific gravity difference between the dispersed water droplets and the oil should result in the water sinking to the bottom of the treatment vessel. 

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Theoretical analysis and motion simulation work has resulted 1n a basic understanding of fluid motion Inside process equipment. In turn, the specific affects In two and three phase separators, treaters, glycol dehydrators and other process equipment has been analyzed. This research has lead to the establishment of process equipment sizing criteria for all types of vessel motion transmitted from the marine vessel, also the designs of baffling and other Internals to dampen and control the fluid motion have been established together with the optimization of equipment layout on marine vessels. 

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