System and method of delivering dilution water droplets within an oil-and-water stream

Abstract

A system for desalting a crude oil stream includes vessel that has an interior piping structure that releases wash water into a crude oil flow within the vessel. The piping structure, which may have more than one level, has a plurality of spray nozzles for dispersing or releasing the wash water into the flowing crude oil stream. The spray nozzles may be located on a same side or opposite sides of the piping structure. Where multiple levels are used, the number of spray nozzles on each level may be the same as or different than the number of spray nozzles on other levels. The pressure drop through each spray nozzle is no greater than 300 psi and the nozzles deliver a dilution water droplet no larger than 300 microns in diameter. A mixing valve, static mixer, or both can be placed downstream of the vessel.

Claims

1. A system for use in a crude oil desalting operation, the system comprising an elongated vessel including a crude oil inlet located toward a top end of the vessel, an oil-and-water outlet, and at least one wash water inlet, the system comprising: a piping arrangement located within an interior space of the vessel and including a plurality of spray nozzles arranged to receive wash water from the at least one wash water inlet and release the wash water into a crude oil flow flowing within the vessel.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the piping arrangement includes two or more levels of piping.

3. A system according to claim 2 wherein one level of the piping arrangement is connected to the at least one wash water inlet and another level is connected to a different wash water inlet of the vessel.

4. A system according to claim 2 wherein the number of spray nozzles in the plurality of spray nozzles differs between the two or more levels of piping.

5. A system according to claim 1 wherein each spray nozzle in the plurality of spray nozzles delivers a dilution water droplet in a range of 10 to 300 microns in diameter.

6. A system according to claim 1 wherein a pressure drop through each spray nozzle in the plurality of spray nozzles is in a range of 50 to 300 psi.

7. A system according to claim 1 further comprising at least one of a mixing valve and a static mixer located downstream of the vessel.

8. A system according to claim 1 further comprising at least a portion of the plurality of spray nozzles being angled toward a bottom end of the vessel.

9. A system according to claim 1 further comprising at least a portion of the plurality of spray nozzles being angled toward a sidewall of the vessel.

10. A system according to claim 1 further comprising the oil-and-water outlet being located toward a bottom end of the vessel.

11. A system according to claim 1 further comprising the piping arrangement is arranged concentric to a longitudinal axis of the vessel.

12. A system according to claim 1 further comprising the vessel being vertically oriented.

13. A method of desalting a crude oil stream, the method comprising the steps of: routing a crude oil stream into an elongated vessel, the vessel including an oil inlet located toward a top end of the vessel, an oil-and-water outlet, and at least one wash water inlet; routing a wash water stream into a piping arrangement located within an interior space of the vessel and including a plurality of spray nozzles arranged to receive wash water from the at least one wash water inlet; and releasing the wash water stream through the plurality of spray nozzles and into the crude oil stream.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein the piping arrangement includes two or more levels of piping.

15. A method according to claim 14 wherein one level of the piping arrangement is connected to the at least one wash water inlet and another level is connected to a different wash water inlet of the vessel.

16. A method according to claim 14 wherein the number of spray nozzles in the plurality of spray nozzles differs between the two or more levels of piping.

17. A method according to claim 13 wherein each spray nozzle in the plurality of spray nozzles delivers a dilution water droplet in a range of 10 to 300 microns in diameter.

18. A method according to claim 13 wherein a pressure drop through each spray nozzle in the plurality of spray nozzles is in a range of 50 to 300 psi.

19. A method according to claim 13 further comprising at least one of a mixing valve and a static mixer located downstream of the vessel.

20. A vessel for desalting a crude oil stream, the vessel comprising: a multi-level piping structure located within an interior space of the vessel, each level of the piping structure including a plurality of spray nozzles arranged to receive wash water from a wash water inlet connected to the level and release the wash water into a crude oil stream flowing within the vessel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) So that the manner in which the above recited features can be understood in detail, a more particular description may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings, illustrate various embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, and may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic of a prior art pressure drop control system.

(3) FIG. 2A is a cross section view of a prior art mixing injector.

(4) FIG. 2B is a view taken along section line 2B of FIG. 2A.

(5) FIG. 3A is a mixing vessel made according to this disclosure.

(6) FIG. 3B is a view taken along section line 3B of FIG. 3A.

(7) FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of a nozzle spool made according to this disclosure.

(8) FIG. 5 is a view of the nozzle spool taken along section line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

(9) FIG. 6 is a top view of the nozzle spool of FIG. 4.

(10) FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the nozzle spool of FIG. 4.

(11) FIG. 8 is a schematic of a system and method which makes use of a mixing vessel that houses the nozzle spool of FIG. 4.

(12) FIG. 9 is top view of an embodiment of the nozzle spool. The ring-shaped levels are replaced by a cross-bar shaped level.

ELEMENTS AND NUMBERING USED IN THE DRAWINGS AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(13) 5 Example of a commercial system 10 Mixing vessel 11 Spray nozzle 13 Centerline of 15 15 Spray pattern 17 Longitudinal centerline of 10 19 Inlet pipe 20 Nozzle spool 21 Spray nozzles 23 Wash water inlet 25 Wash water sub-stream 27 Wash water sub-stream 29 Wash water sub-stream 33 Flow meter 35 Wash water sub-inlet 37 Wash water sub-inlet 39 Wash water sub-inlet 45 Vertical pipe connected to 35 47 Vertical pipe connected to 37 49 Vertical pipe connected to 39 55 First or top level connected to 45 57 Second or middle level connected to 47 59 Third or bottom level connected to 49 61 Inner pipe or nozzle ring 63 Outer pipe or nozzle ring 65 Lateral pipe 67 Central longitudinal pipe 71 Spraying head or manifold 81 Crude oil inlet 83 Mixture outlet 85 Flow meter for 25 87 Flow meter for 27 89 Flow meter for 29 91 Flow meter 95 Valve for 25 97 Valve for 27 99 Valve for 29 103 Static mixer 105 Mixing valve F Flow of oil-and-water stream in 10 P Positive displacement or centrifugal pump S Interior space of 10

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(14) In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of some embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the system and/or methodology may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments may be possible.

(15) In the specification and appended claims: the terms connect, connection, connected, in connection with, and connecting are used to mean in direct connection with or in connection with via one or more elements, and the term set is used to mean one element or more than one element. Further, the terms couple, coupling, coupled, coupled together, and coupled with are used to mean directly coupled together or coupled together via one or more elements. As used herein, the terms up and down, upper and lower, upwardly and downwardly, upstream and downstream, above and below; and other like terms indicating relative positions above or below a given point or element are used in this description to more clearly describe some embodiments of the disclosure.

(16) Although the preceding description has been described herein with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather, it extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods, and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims.

(17) Referring to FIGS. 3A & B, a system and method for delivering dilution water within a crude oil stream includes a mixing vessel 10 with at least one spray nozzle 11 located within an interior space S of the vessel 10. The crude oil stream typically is an oil-dominant stream.

(18) The spray nozzle 11 is arranged so that a centerline 13 of a spray pattern 15 of the dilution water droplets being delivered by the spray nozzle 11 is parallel to the longitudinal centerline 17 of the mixing vessel 10 (i.e., in a direction of flow F of the crude oil stream flowing through the mixing vessel 10). Therefore, the spray from each nozzle 11 is in a generally downward direction and into the downward flow F of the crude oil stream.

(19) Mixing vessel 10 is a vertically oriented pipe located upstream of a mixing valve (not shown) and electrostatic dehydration process (also not shown). The spray nozzle 11 is plumbed to a horizontally oriented inlet pipe 19 which is in communication with a dilution water source (not shown). The spray nozzles 11 atomize the wash water from the dilution water source into the crude oil.

(20) The spray nozzle 11 can be a first stage (or level) of spraying and at least one other spray nozzle 11 can be arranged downstream from and in an identical manner to the first-mentioned spray nozzle 11. The other spray nozzle 11 is a second stage (or level) of spraying. Multiple stages of spraying within the same mixing vessel 10 can be used as appropriate, as can multiple mixing vessels 10. Each stage within the vessel 10 makes use of the same size of spray nozzle 11 and operates at the same pressures and rates. The number of spray nozzles 11 between inlet pipes 19 may be the same or vary as appropriate.

(21) The pressure drop through each spray nozzle 11 is in a range of 50 psi to 300 psi and in a range of 80 to 120 psi.

(22) The spray nozzles 11 deliver dilution water droplets in the range of 10 to 300 microns in diameter and in the range of 10 to 30 microns in diameter.

(23) The system (FIG. 3A with a single nozzle) was tested in a pilot unit and compared to similar tests run with a conventional disperser like a mix valve and a static mixer. The results show that, for the conventional mix valve and static mixer, the contact efficiency between the wash water droplets and the brine droplets contained in the crude oil stream is in the range of 40 to 50%. The contact efficiency for the system and method described above is in the range of 60 to 70%.

(24) If the spray nozzle 11 is located upstream of a conventional disperser like a mix valve, the contact efficiency increases to 90%. Therefore, the spray nozzle 11 can be used along with a conventional mix valve, static mixer, or both to improve contact efficiency (see e.g. FIG. 8 for an example commercial installation 5).

(25) Referring now to FIGS. 4-7, an alternate embodiment of mixing vessel 10 includes a multi-level nozzle spool 20 having concentric inner and outer circular pipes or rings 61, 63 on each level 55, 57, 59 of the spool 20. Other piping arrangements can include other shapes, such as but not limited to a cross-bar shaped arrangement like that shown in FIG. 9 in which lateral pipes 65 extend from a central longitudinal pipe 67 connected to a ring 63 and its respective wash water inlet 35, 37, or 39 (e.g., inlet 35 for first level 55). The spool 20 may also be a single level spool.

(26) Each level 55, 57, 59 is connected to three vertical pipes 45, 47, and 49, with one vertical pipe 45, 47 or 49 providing wash water to the level 55, 57, 59 and that level's rings 61, 63. Each ring 61, 63 supports a plurality of spraying heads or manifolds 71, each manifold 71 having a plurality of spray nozzles 21. The first or top level 55 has 45% of the total spray nozzles 21, the second or middle level 57 has 30% of the total nozzles 21, and the third or bottom level 59 has 25% of the total nozzles 21.

(27) Referring now to FIG. 8, the mixing vessel 10 has five ports: a crude oil inlet 81, three wash water inlets, 35, 37, 39, and a mixture outlet 83. Note that vessel 10 may have an internal pipe structure or arrangement other than that of nozzle spool 20 as shown in FIGS. 4-9. A positive displacement or centrifugal pump P pumps the wash water stream to the vessel 10 and guarantees the working pressure for the spray nozzles 21. A flow meter 33 monitors the wash water stream.

(28) Before entering the vessel 10, the wash water stream is divided into three sub-streams 25, 27, and 29 to allow a reasonable system turndown ratio. The sub-streams 25, 27 and 29 provide a wash water sub-stream to a respective vertical piping 45, 47 or 49 connected to the top, middle, or bottom level 55, 57, 59 (and the level's respective rings 61,63) of the nozzle spool 20.

(29) Each inlet stream or piping 25, 27, 29 is equipped with a respective flow meter 85, 87, 89 and an on-off valve 95, 97, 99. The flow meter 85, 87, 89 monitors the sub-stream line 35, 37, 39 for plugged or leaking spray nozzles 21. The on-off valve 95, 97, 99 is used to direct the flow to each ring 61, 63 on the respective level 55, 57, 59 to maintain the pressure drop through the nozzles 21.

(30) Similar to spray nozzle 11, spray nozzles 21 atomize the wash water from the dilution water source into the crude oil stream. The pressure drop through each spray nozzle 21 is in a range of 50 psi to 300 psi, and in a range of 80 to 120 psi. The spray nozzles 21 deliver dilution water droplets in the range of 10 to 300 microns in diameter and in the range of 10 to 30 microns in diameter. The spray from each nozzle 21 is in a general downward direction and into the crude oil flow as it flows in a downward direction through the vessel 10.

(31) A crude oil stream enters the system through a crude oil inlet 81. The crude oil flow rate is monitored by a flow meter 91. The mixing vessel 10 could be bypassed to route the crude oil flow to static mixer 103 and mixing valve 105.

(32) Vessel 10, when in use, represents the washing step located upstream of a separator vessel such as an electrostatic dehydration unit. The vessel 10 may replace the typical washing step described in the Background section or may be used in combination with it (see e.g., FIG. 8). One or more vessel 10's may be used prior to the mixed oil-and-water stream being routed to downstream equipment such as dehydrator or desalter vessel.

(33) The system and method described above are not all of the possible embodiments of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the following claims, including elements or steps which are equivalent to those recited.