Heater treater Horizontal heater treaters petroleum engineering

1. HEATER
TREATER

2. INTRODUCTION
• The crude which is produced contains
considerable amount of water in it which has
to be removed/treated before crude is
supplied to the refinery.
• Heater Treater is the equipment which is used
for this purpose. Basically it is used for the
treatment of emulsion.

3. INTRODUCTION
• Horizontal heater treaters are used in the oil/gas
industry to help facilitate oil/water separation by
speed in up emulsions separation through applying
heat.
• Heater treaters can be thought of as low
pressure, three phase separators equipped with fire
tubes.
• They separate gas from the incoming emulsion and
separate the emulsion into a water phase and an oil
phase. Heater treaters can also function as a
freewater knockout, a heat exchanger, a filter, and as
a water wash tank.

4. INTRODUCTION
• It consists of four section:
• 1. Inlet degassing section
• 2. Heating section
• 3. Differential oil control chamber
• 4. Coalescing section (electrical chamber)

6. Inlet Degassing Section
• Oil mixing with demulsifying chemicals enter 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.

7. Heating Section
• 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 the oil stream.
• The water level in this section is controlled by the
weighted, displacement type interface float which
operates a water discharge control valve by
instrument air acting on diaphragm.

8. Heating Section
• The oil and entrained water flow upward from
the distributors around the fire tubes, where
the required temp is reached.
• The increase in temperature of the oil releases
some additional gas.
• The heat released gas then joins the free gas
from the inlet section is discharged from the
Treater through a gas back pressure control
valve.

9. Differential Oil Control Chamber
• The heated fluid transfers from the heating
section over the fixed weir into differential oil
control chamber, 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.

10. Coalescing Section (Electrical
Chamber)
• Heat Treater uses a high voltage potential on
the electrodes for coalescing of the water
droplets in the final phase of processing.
• The electrodes are suspended o the insulated
hanger from the upper portion of the vessel.
The ground electrode is furnished with solid
steel hangers to ensure grounding with the
steel of the Treater.

11. Coalescing Section (Electrical
Chamber)
• An extremely mounted oil, immersed high
voltage transformer is furnished to provide
the power to the electrodes.
• The transformer uses 240 volts in primary and
supplies 16500 volts in secondary. The high
voltage secondary is connected to charged
electrode through a specially designed high
voltage entrance bushing for insulation.

12. Coalescing Section (Electrical
Chamber)
• 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 entrained
water come into contact with the electrical field in
the grid area, final coalescing of the water takes
place.
• The water falls back to the water area at the bottom
and the clean oil continues to rise to the top, where
it enters a collector and is discharged through the
clean oil outlet control valve.

13. Principle
• The incoming emulsion enters the vessel near
its top and any gas associated with the
emulsion is vented. Any free
water immediately drops to the water section
where it is discarded.
• The emulsion flows over the fire tubes where
it is heated to the desired temperature as it
rises through the heated water section. (The
heated water serves to wash the emulsion
and to aid in the coalescing of the water

14. Principle
• The emulsion and oil continue to rise into the oil
treating section of the vessel where the emulsion
breaking process continues.
• Some treaters are equipped with a "hay" or excelsior
section to aid in coalescing the water droplets and to
act as a filtering media for removal of solids from the
crude oil.
• The heights of the water and oil columns are
controlled by dump valves or by a siphon. The clean
oil exits the vessel near the top third of the vessel
and the water is drawn off directly under the fire
tubes and emulsion distribution pan.

15. Applications
• The heater treater is normally found downstream of
a two-phase separator on a high pressure system. It
can be found downstream of the well, a free-water
knockout or gun barrel on a low pressure system.
• Heater treaters are used where the emulsion cannot
be broken using just retention, quiescence and
chemical demulsifies. The addition of heat is
required to break the emulsion. Heat lowers the
viscosity of the oil making it easier for the water to
settle. It also creates molecular movement which
aids in the coalescing of the water droplets.

16. THANK
YOU….