NEET Process, from the United States, was contracted in December 2023 by SSOIL Energy to supply a vertical flow type desalter for its refinery located in the municipality of Coroados, in the state of São Paulo. FLUXO is NEET's exclusive representative in Brazil.
The desalter is part of SSOIL's expansion plan, which is increasing its refining flexibility by processing not only condensate, but other types of oil in order to increase the share of Brazilian product in its refining process. The equipment should be delivered by the end of May this year.
The desalter is an electrostatic treater used to remove water, salt and other substances that can cause oil contamination. Upon entering the pressure vessel, the emulsion is subjected to a high-voltage electrostatic field applied to the vessel's internal electrodes, which are energized by an alternating current (AC) transformer. This field promotes the coalescence of the brine droplets, where the larger droplets help to separate the oil due to density differences.
After separation, the oil is drained off at the top of the vessel and the water (loaded with salt and other contaminants) at the bottom. The residence time for processing the emulsion is just a few seconds.
The supply will total 15 tons of equipment and will process all of the refinery's production. The desalter vessel will be made of ASTM 516-Gr 70 steel with dimensions of 2.5 m (diameter) x 4 m (length), which will guarantee SSOIL treated oil at the outlet with 0.1% BS&W (basic sediment and water) and a maximum salt content of 0.45 kg / 1000 barrels, as performance parameters. NEET's scope of supply includes basic and detailed engineering, manufacturing, supervision services, start-up technical assistance and testing of the contracted equipment.