Petreco International Inc, a Cooper Cameron Group company, was contracted in August by Petrobras to supply a Bi-Electric desalter for the Alberto Pasqualini S/A Refinery (Refap) located in Canoas, RS.
The desalter is part of Refap's expansion plan, which will increase its refining capacity by almost 60%, starting to process 190,000 barrels of oil per day. The equipment should be delivered in June next year.
The desalter is an electrostatic precipitator used to remove water and other substances that can cause oil contamination. Upon entering the pressure vessel, the emulsion is subjected to an electrostatic field of 14,000 volts generated by the internal electrodes of the vessel. This field promotes the coalescence of oil droplets, that is, the grouping of these droplets, which, together, separate from the water by density difference. After separation, the oil is drained through the upper part of the vessel and the water (laden with salt and other contaminants) through the lower part.
The supply will total almost 68 tons of equipment and will process a third of the refinery's total capacity. The desalter vessel will be built in ASTM 516-Gr 70 steel with dimensions of 4m in diameter by 16m in length, which guarantees Refap oil treated with 0.3% BS&W (basic sediments and water) and a maximum salt content of 30 mg /l as performance parameters. Petreco's scope of supply comprises basic and detail engineering, manufacturing, supervision services, technical start-up assistance and testing of equipment contracted by Petrobras - Refap.