Showing posts with label heater treater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heater treater. Show all posts

Thursday, February 9, 2017

TECHSHORE INSPECTION SERVICES : HEAT EXCHANGERS



A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between the fluids. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to avoid mixing. They are widely used in space heating,  power stations, chemical plants, air conditioning, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, refrigeration, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine. Inside this engine is enclosed with a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through out the radiator coils of the engine and air flows through the coils, which cools the coolant and helps in heating the incoming air.



For the efficient operation of the compressor, the temperature inside the gas should be low. At the lower temperature, the energy will be very less and it is used to compress the gas for the given application of final temperature and pressure. However, the gas exhausted from both separators as well as the compressor will be relatively hot. When gas inside it is compressed, the thermodynamic balance remains same, which means that pressure of the gas times the volume of the liquid over the temperature (PV/T) must remain constant. (PV = nkT). As a result the temperature increase. Heat exchangers of different types are used for cooling the gas. Plate heat exchangers are the device which consist of a number of plates where the medium helps in cooling and gas circulates in opposite direction between the alternating plates. Tube and shell exchangers place tubes inside a shell enclosed with cooling fluid. Pure water with corrosion inhibitors is mainly used as cooling fluid.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Straight-tube_heat_exchanger_1-pass.PNG/220px-Straight-tube_heat_exchanger_1-pass.PNG





When designing the process, the thermal energy balancing should be very important .Heat produced should be conserved, by using the cooling fluid produced from the gas train helps to reheat oil inside the oil train. Excess heat is dispersed, by cooling seawater. However, hot seawater will be highly corrosive, so materials with high resistance to corrosion, such as titanium must be used.



Wednesday, December 7, 2016

OPERATION OF HEATER TREATER


OPERATION OF HEATER TREATER


  1. It is a horizontal vessel employing a vertical flow pattern. Heater treater employs method of heating , chemical action , electrical coalescence , water washing of oil and settling for demulsification of oil .
  2. Movement of fluid through heater treater is controlled by a system of differential pressure combined with static heat .
  3. Heater treater vessel is divided into four parts .
    i  . Inlet degassing section
    ii . Heating section .
    iii. Differential oil control chamber .
    iv. Coalescing section

INLET DEGASSING SECTION

Oil mixed with demulsifying chemical enters the heater treater through degassing section , above the fire tubes . Free gas is liberated from the flow stream and is equalized across the entire degassing and heating areas of the treater . The  degassing section , is separated from the heating section by baffles .The fluid travels downward from the degassing area and enters the heating section under the fire tubes through multiple orifice distributors .

HEATING SECTION

Heating section consist of a fire tube bent at 180°.
In 6ft. × 15 ft . heater treater , there is one tube ; in 8ft. × 20 ft . heater treater , there are two tubes . The constant level in this section is maintained by weir height . Oil enters this section from bottom of degassing section and passes through  heater at bottom and washing action takes place and free water and solids fall out of the oil stream . The water level in this section is controlled by a weighted , displacement type interface float which operates a water discharge control valve by instrument air acting on diaphragm . The oil allows water flow upward from the distributors section, surrounding the fire tubes , where the adequate temperature is attained .The increase in temperature of the oil releases some additional gas . The heat released some additional gas . The heat released gas then joints the free gas from the inlet section and is discharged from the treater through a gas back pressure control valve .

DIFFERENTIAL OIL CONTROL CHAMBER

The fluid which is heated should be transferd from the heating section over the fixed weir into a differential chamber for oil control , which contains a liquid level control float . The fluid travels downwards to near the bottom of the differential oil control chamber where the opening to the coalescing section distributors are located .

COALESCING SECTION (ELECTRICAL CHAMBER )

Heater treater operates under a high voltage potential on the electrodes for merging of the water droplets in the final stage of processing . The electrodes are suspended on the insulated hanger from the upper portion of vessel . The ‘Ground’ electrode is made up of solid steel hangers to provide proper grounding with the steel of the treater .
An externally mounted , oil immersed high voltage transformer is designed such that to provide the proper power supply to the electrodes .The transformer uses 240 volts in primary and supplies 16500 volts in secondary .The secondary unit having a high voltage is connected to charged electrode through a high voltage entrance which is specially designed in the form of a bushing for insulation .Secondary is also connected to voltmeter and external pilot indicator light .The oil and entrained water enter the coalescing section from the differential oil control chamber through multiple ,full length , metered distributor .As the oil and transformed water come into contact with each other the electrical field produced in the grid area, final coalescing of the water take place .
The water supply which is falling back into the water area at the bottom and the clean oil starts continuously rises to the top portion, and finally it enters at the collector and is comes out through the clean oil outlet of the control valve .

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

HEATER TREATERS and DESALTERS

 HEATER-TREATERS

A heater treater is normally used in treating oil emulsions. Oil treating equipment generally makes use of different methods such as  mechanical, thermal and gravity. Some other times it may depends on certain chemical or electrical methods to break emulsions .
Heater treaters can be vertical or horizontal design. The size is depend upon the volume of the oil and water to be handled.
Treaters equipped with electrodes are normally horizontal in design. They are refered to as electrostatic coalescers or chem.- electric heaters .In some applications these treaters are the most desirable because they treat at a temperature lower than the conventional heater-treater ., saving fuel and conserving oil gravity .

DESALTERS


Desalters are similar to oil treaters in design and function .Desalters function by using fresh or blackish water are used to dilute the brine and increase the volume of salt water in the oil so that they will be more easily precipitated .Desalters generally go for electrostatic precipitation method.