Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Jose X Simonetty

Brian D Albert

Magaly C Barroeta

Theodore Trent Trier

Victor Alva

Mohsen Shahmirzadi Yeganeh

Michael Louis Hergenrother

Michel A Daage

Christopher J Wolfe

Owen P Jacobs

Jennifer A Gillett

John R Faber

Ashok Uppal

Vikram Singh

Robert Piszczek

Andrew P Sullivan

Brian W Heins

Magaly A Barroeta

Andrew T Sullivan

Gregory Mason Goodman

Zhonghcheng Wang

Michael Hergenrother

Zhongcheng Wang

Systems and methods are provided for separating a feedstock into a plurality of separation products using dividing wall column technology that includes a plurality of dividing walls. Including a plurality of dividing walls in the column can provide reduced energy consumption and reduced equipment footprint for production of a plurality of high purity distillation products. The systems and methods can allow for separation of a large number of products from a feed while having a reduced or minimized number of liquid splits and/or vapor splits.

Dual-dividing wall column with multiple products

A petroleum desalting process in which the oil/water emulsion layer which forms in the desalter vessel between the settled water layer and the settled oil layer is separated into the oil and water components by contact with a heated high boiling hydrocarbon to break the emulsion and vaporize water from the emulsion in a flash drum. The vessel has an emulsion outlet for removing an emulsion stream from the emulsion layer and a conduit connecting the emulsion withdrawal port to an inlet of an optional settling drum to effect and initial separation into an oil-enriched phase and a water phase with the oil-enriched phase led to the flash drum.

Desalter emulsion separation by hydrocarbon heating medium direct vaporization

Improved separation of oil and water as well as suspended solids from the emulsion layer formed in a petroleum desalter is achieved by injection of demulsifier into the desalter vessel to achieve a higher localized concentration of demulsifier in the emulsion layer so as to promote improved oil/water separation from the emulsion layer. The demulsifier may be injected into the water layer or the oil layer in the region of the emulsion layer or directly into the stabilized emulsion layer.

Desalter operation

Desalter emulsion separation by direct contact vaporization

An improved method and process unit for desalting petroleum crude oils in which a portion of the stable emulsion layer which forms in the desalter vessel is withdrawn from the desalter and diluted with a liquid diluent, typically oil or water or both to destabilize the emulsion which is then separated into separate oil and water phases.

Petroleum crude oil desalting process and unit

An improved separator for desalting petroleum crude oils which may be operated in a continuous manner under automatic control; the improved desalter is therefore well suited to modern refinery operation with minimal downtime. A portion of the emulsion layer is withdrawn from the desalter through external withdrawal ports according to the thickness and position of the emulsion layer with the selected withdrawal header(s) being controlled by sensors monitoring the position and thickness of the emulsion layer. The withdrawn emulsion layer can be routed as such or with the desalter water effluent to a settling tank or directly to another unit for separation and reprocessing.

Separator for desalting petroleum crude oils having rag layer withdrawal

Growing community of inventors

Kingwood, TX, United States of America

Jose X Simonetty