Improvement of Crude oil Separation Process (Emulsions Breaking) for Neem Field Processing Facilities.

Abstract

Crude oil emulsions occur in many stages during oil production treatment. The main task in oil and gas production is to separate the gas, oil and water phases and to treat the individual phases in order to meet the product specifications. Methods currently available for demulsification can be broadly classified as chemical, electrical, thermal and mechanical (gravity separations). Demulsification (emulsion breaking) is necessary in many practical applications such as the petroleum industry. Chemical demulsification is the most widely applied method of treating water-incrude oil emulsions and involves the use of chemical additives to accelerate the emulsion breaking process. The effect of chemical demulsification operations on the stability and properties of water-incrude oil emulsions was assessed experimentally. In this regard, demulsifier was used. Mechanical (gravity separations) method also is the most widely applied method of treating crude oil –in- water emulsions and involves the use of CPI separator to accelerate the emulsion breaking process. In the present work and for Demulsification method, Demulsifier type (KS-5038) was used (injected) for dehydration for Neem Field Processing Facility water in oil emulsion. The experimental work was performed for crude oil samples (daily) after chemical injection. Mechanical method (gravity separation) also was applied to separate the oily water emulsion to enhance the produced water quality according to WHO specification and reduce the oil waste with water. The present work involved in this thesis by uses two demulsification methods which have been studied, discussed and compared with successful Neem FPF laboratory test results that obtained good and satisfied result.