CRUDE OIL TREATMENT
Flargent offers solutions for the pretreatment of crude oil that involve the separation by gravity of gases from liquids, followed by the elimination of free water and desalting through dilution, heating and electrostatic coalescers, and the fractioning in modular topping units.
CRUDE OIL DEHYDRATORS AND DESALTERS
Depending on the input fluid and the output requirements, Flargent offers different crude oil treatment technologies to remove water and salt from the crude oil and reach BS&W (basic sediment and water) levels that increase sale value.
THERMO-ELECTROSTATIC WATER SEPARATORS
Flargent manufactures the most advanced technology to separate water from oil and meet the crude oil’s specified sale value, with highly efficient results: inlet fluids usually contain between 10% and 30% water; and typically exit the thermo-electrostatic water separators with less than 1%.
These units are usually composed of two well-differentiated sections. The first section has fire-tube heaters and gas heaters that heat the incoming fluids, reduce the viscosity of the hydrocarbons, and enable phase separation. In the second section, the flow is submitted to an electrostatic field, vaporing the separation of hydrocarbon from water molecules, due to a difference in polarity.
Flargent offers this technology in partnership with a world-class company, reducing costs and manufacturing times by adapting the equipment to local regulations.
DESALTERS
Desalters are used when, in addition to water, crude oil has a high content of salts in solution. Flargent manufactures desalters which, by the controlled addition of fresh water, work in a similar fashion to a thermo-electrostatic water separator. This increases the crude oil’s sale value because it avoids damage due to scaling and corrosion in downstream equipment and pipelines.
Flargent offers this technology in partnership with a world-class company, reducing costs and manufacturing times by adapting the equipment to local regulations.
STABILIZATION AND REFINING
Stabilization and refining of condensates is a process that consists of adjusting vapor pressures and fractioning components of liquid hydrocarbons. This process includes crude oil refining equipment that separates and purifies relevant components, either by requirement or due to their sale value.
TOPPING UNITS FOR CRUDE OIL AND CONDENSATES
Flargent designs and supplies custom-made topping units to fraction crude oil or condensates into naphtha, diesel and jet fuel. These units may supply fuel for vehicle fleets in remote or neglected areas, thereby reducing the operating costs of isolated facilities.
CONDENSATE STABILIZERS
To eliminate the most volatile components of crude oil and prevent its vaporization during transportation and storage, Flargent manufactures a line of condensate stabilization units.
The equipment consists of a stabilization column that is heated by a vaporizer or reboiler to obtain a determined vapor pressure. A typical stabilized gasoline specification has a Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) of 10 psi. Excess vapor can be used as fuel or be recompressed and combined with commercial grade gases. Once stabilized, the condensate at the bottom of the column is fed through an air cooler and pumped to the storage tanks.
Flargent delivers these units on fully packaged skids, including the column and all required piping and instruments.
