Desalting of crude oil under non-uniform electrical field

In this paper desalting and dehydrating of crude oil in “water-in-oil” emulsion type is investigated under non-uniform electrical field using direct current (DC) and the results are compared with the ones of available methods. The effect of time, temperature and voltage on separation efficiency is also considered. The results show that the non-uniform electrical field method can be the proper and suitable way to desalt and dehydrate the water-in-oil emulsions. In laboratory conditions of 10500 to 11000 volts of voltage and 50 hertz of frequents the separation efficiency of 99% is achievable.

Keywords:

electrical field , separation , Water-in-oil emulsion