EGU23-3456, updated on 25 Sep 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-3456
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Mathematical modeling of dispersed phase behavior of water-in-oil emulsions in electrostatic crude oil desalters

Ghazal Kooti1,2, Bahram Dabir3, Reza Taherdangkoo1, and Christoph Butscher1
Ghazal Kooti et al.
  • 1TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Chair of Engineering Geology and Environmental Geotechnics, Germany (ghazal.kooti@student.tu-freiberg.de)
  • 2Department of Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
  • 3Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

The produced crude oil from reservoirs usually contains a considerable amount of water which is submitted to large shear rates through production process, and due to the existence of natural surface-active agents in crude oils, stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions are formed. Effectively purifying the emulsified crude oil through the electrostatic desalting process plays an important role in reducing its water and water-soluble salts contents, which otherwise exacerbate oil deterioration, equipment corrosion, and catalysts deactivation in subsequent units. The electrostatic desalting process has proved to be an efficient means of separation using electrodes subjected to a high voltage to enhance the coalescence of water droplets. In this study, a mathematical model was developed to simulate the W/O dispersed flow to study the evolution of droplet size distributions in crude oil desalters. The population balance approach was employed to describe the behavior of W/O emulsions in the continuous phase assuming that the process is controlled by two simultaneous physical phenomena; breakage and coalescence of droplets. Experimental results on the W/O system were utilized to validate the mathematical model and the employed numerical technique. The agreement between the developed model and experimental droplet volume size distributions was shown to be satisfactory, confirming the further applicability of the model. The present study can be helpful for optimizing crude oil desalting operating conditions, enhancing efficiency, and decreasing energy and chemical consumption.

How to cite: Kooti, G., Dabir, B., Taherdangkoo, R., and Butscher, C.: Mathematical modeling of dispersed phase behavior of water-in-oil emulsions in electrostatic crude oil desalters, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-3456, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-3456, 2023.