Crude Oil Desalter Services

With safety being our topmost priority, access one-off expertise to support your operations with our Field Service team and customized service offering. Veolia field service team can also provide expertise and assistance in start-up, shutdown operations as well as:

• Equipment installation assistance & start-up services
• Extensive & adapted training programs 
• Operation & monitoring of equipment performance
• Repair services, audits & troubleshooting
• Debottlenecking, upgrades & replacements (AC – AC/DC technologies)
• Field trials & piloting

Our Desalter experts and Services team will also work closely with your team to thoroughly plan the activities matching Client’s facilities shutdown overall schedule, specific work and safety procedures. We will plan in advance the procurement and site activities and we will be able to assist you with desalter re-starting and propose adapted chemistry and monitoring programs.

Desalter and oil/water separation experts provide design review, site audits, and troubleshooting services and develop up-to-date solutions to improve both new and existing crude treatment plants performance.

Lab scientists and technicians dedicated to analyzing, developing and monitoring best-in-class chemistries and treatment services.

Through Veolia InSight* digital platform, our experts deliver a comprehensive range of experience-driven services to increase transparency, consistency and availability across your operations.

At Veolia, our global footprint and robust desalting and oil/water separation expertise enables us to be able to provide custom-tailored solutions to all of our customers based on their needs. These solutions aim at reducing complexity, minimizing risks, improving cost control, and maximizing the performance of your assets.

Our services offerings include:

• Design & Build of new equipment
• Supervision of installation, commissioning and start-up
• Training programs for operation and maintenance teams
• Supply of Spare parts and consumables (standard delivery or Management of stock and minimum delivery time)
• Chemical supply and monitoring services
• Desalter operation follow-up and optimization thanks to the Veolia Smart Desalter Controller package
• Maintenance programs
• Design review, site surveys, repair and troubleshooting
• Upgrade coalescing technology AC to AC/DC
• Field & remote monitoring through the InSight* platform
• Desalter shutdown activity support at the site including equipment audit and site activities follow-up

We can improve your desalter performance by providing technical support to your team while optimizing your investment throughout your project’s life.

We partner with you to

• Deliver innovative chemical products, processes and digital solutions across the globe
• Protect your assets, minimize downtime and reduce operating costs
• Meet the needs of your industry, your region and your business
• Reach your performance and compliance goals with sustainable solutions

Yes, you can upgrade your desalter from AC to and AC/DC technology. 

At Veolia, our team will work closely with your project and operation teams in order to thoroughly plan the works and minimize downtime when replacing the internals and proprietary equipment.

Oil/water separation are complex processes that involve multiple parameters. Monitoring diverse source of data in a single place can be a great tool to have an overall view, identify trends and small issues before they become real problems. Gathering the right data with correct interpretation will provide you meaningful information that will help you decreasing the total cost of operations.

Veolia Oil/water separation specialists can also help you improve your knowledge of desalter operation using the right instruments to monitor the Oil/water emulsion interfaces and control solid deposits through Veolia Smart Desalter Controller package.

Effective process management depends on data transformed into meaningful and actionable information. Veolia’s InSight* captures the power of data to maximize performance and achieve better outcomes. A cloud-based Asset Performance Management solution, InSight uses data and analytics to help ensure treatment assets operate at optimal performance. By aggregating and analyzing the thousands of complex data points from throughout an operation, InSight provides users with greater visibility and transparency at a plant level or across the entire enterprise.

Oil/water separation is a complex process that involves multiple parameters. Monitoring diverse sources of data in a single place can be a great tool to have an overall view, identify trends and small issues before they become real problems. Gathering the right data with correct interpretation will provide you meaningful information that will help you decrease the total cost of operations.

Veolia oil/water separation specialists can also help you improve your knowledge of desalter operation using the right instruments to monitor the oil/water emulsion interfaces and control solid deposits through Veolia Smart Desalter Controller package.

Effective process management depends on data transformed into meaningful and actionable information. Veolia’s InSight* captures the power of data to maximize performance and achieve better outcomes. A cloud-based Asset Performance Management solution, InSight uses data and analytics to help ensure treatment assets operate at optimal performance. By aggregating and analyzing the thousands of complex data points from throughout an operation, InSight provides users with greater visibility and transparency at a plant level or across the entire enterprise.

Over their lifetime, desalters will process a wide range of different crudes, often far from the crude quality they have been designed for. 

Veolia design, operation and chemistry experts will provide you support through desktop surveys and complete site audits in order to identify potential gaps in efficiency or safety measures being taken at the plant. Veolia’s experts can review design and operation data and conduct a complete site audit to provide you the full diagnostic of your desalter(s) and a clear picture of the necessary modifications which shall be done on your unit(s)

The consumption of was water depends on:

• The crude oil characteristics: density, …
• The formation water (water trapped with the untreated crude oil) salt content
• The wash water salt content
• The design of the desalter package: single vs double stage train, type of emulsifying device
• The salt content which shall be reached in the treated crude oil

The minimum recommended wash water flowrate shall be 5%vol (of dry crude oil flowrate) in order to get the proper wash water droplet population to contact the formation water droplet in the electrostatic field. The wash water flowrate can be increased up to 10%vol depending on the density of the crude oil.

Nevertheless, based on the desalter KPI’s and the above points, there is a way to optimize the consumption of wash water. Veolia Oil/water separation specialists can help you to decrease the cost of your water treatment via an audit of your desalter package.

Displacer, capacitance, radar, detectors, profiler, … each type of level instrument has its advantages and weaknesses and only an analysis of the system can lead to determining the most appropriate instrument. 

The type of level instrument to be installed in a desalter shall be selected taking into account:

• The Client’s needs: Crude oil/water interface level monitoring and control, interface detection with water cut follow-up, solid/liquid or gas/liquid interface, full profiling The crude oil characteristics: density, viscosity, fouling, …
• The desalter design: available nozzle size, top-mounted or side-mounted, arrangement of the internals, …
• The desalter location: onshore or offshore
• The site constraints: free space above the desalter, radioactive source allowed or not, …
• The project specifications: materials to be used, Client’s preferred technology, …
• The budget

Considering all the above points, our team will work closely with your process and operation teams in order to guide you in the selection of the proper instrument and to support you during the retrofit of your existing level control system.

Yes, Veolia can customize its supply to fit our client’s needs.

The supply of the desalter pressure vessel is not necessarily included in Veolia scope. Veolia can provide all required data to its Clients to build the pressure vessel and to support them during the construction phase.
Removing the pressure vessel fabrication from Veolia scope does not mean removing the desalter performance guarantees from Veolia side as long as the fabrication is performed as per Veolia guidelines and recommendations.

From the supply of the heart of the desalter technology (internals and proprietary equipment) up to the most complex skidded desalters, Veolia will always adjust its scope of supply to fit its Client’s requirements and budget.