Hamid Mehdizadeh - Oil Industries, Commissioning and Operation Company (OICO), Ilam, Iran

Due to the high amounts of water, salt and other solids in crude oil, it is necessary to separate thesematerials from crude oil, because the presence of these materials causes crude oil in the operational andexport stages, do not have the necessary indicators for refining and transportation. And is noteconomically desirable. Also, the presence of salt in crude oil along with water causes these substances tobe converted to acids, especially hydrochloric acid, which leads to corrosion in refineries. The process ofdesalination and effective separation of the dispersed phase of brine from the continuous oil phase is adesirable process that has a variety of methods; Gravitational methods, suspension breaker, thermalperformance and electrostatic coagulation are among these methods. The basic principles of electrostaticdesalination of crude oil can be expressed in the integration of small water droplets under the electric fieldand the formation of larger water droplets with higher sedimentation rate. Also, the effect of variousoperational factors such as crude oil properties, temperature, electric field intensity, emulsifierconcentration and the amount of washing water in this phenomenon were investigated.

Desalination, crude oil, electrostatic, emulsion