Electrostatic Dehydrator

HBP provides 3 kinds of Electrostatic Dehydrators per the requirements from the end users to
produce stabilized crude oil with extremely low water and salt content.
1. Horizontal Electrode Dehydrator

Horizontal Electrode Dehydrator consists of parallel electrode plates inside the vessel and applies AC electric fields
between the plates. Normally we use double layer electrode plates (three layer electrode plates sometime). The
upper layer connects to the ground and the lower layer connects to the AC power. The electric field between the two
electrode plates is high field and the one between the lower electrode plates and the oil/water interface is low (Both
the upper and lower electrode plates connect to the ground and the middle electrode plates connects to the AC
power with 3 layers of electrode plate. The electric field between the upper and the middle electrode plates is high
field and the electric field between the middle and the lower electrode plates is low field).
The wet crude oil is fed into the dehydrator through the distribution headers underneath the vessel. The crude oil
flows rapidly through the oil/water interface to enter into the low field and then to the lower electrode plates then into
the high field. The small water droplets coalesce together to form larger droplets under the high field and thus be able
to separate from the crude oil by gravity. The water droplets fall into the water phase below the oil/water interface and
then removed from the bottom of the vessel. The purified oil rises up to the top to be collected and removed from the
dehydrator.
Electric Field: high and low AC fields
Applications & FeaturesFor medium and light crude oil with stabilized electric field and high efficiency.
2. Vertical Electrodes Dehydrator

The electrode plates are mounted vertically to the axial direction of the vessel. The positive and negative electrodes
are located one another. It forms strong half wave DC fields between the electrodes and weak AC field between the
bottom of the electrodes and the oil/water interface with the control of the power distribution.
Electric Field Strong DC + Weak AC
Applications & Features For Desalters in refinery, power saving and high efficiency.
3. Annular Electrode Dehydrator

We use Annular Electrodes strips in the Dehydrator (single or multiple strips). The electric fields are sorted into weak
ac field, transient ac field and strong ac field according to the different distances among the annular electrodes. The
mixture flows in and out of the vessel horizontally with side in and side out. The crude oil is fed into the vessel
through the distributor on one end. It flows horizontally through the 3 different electric fields in sequence. The mixture
is affected by the fields all the time inside the vessel. Then the purified oil flows out of the vessel on the other end.
With the side in and side out design, the oil flows horizontally and the water droplets fall vertically by gravity. This
prevent the flow up oil stream from retaining the water droplets, and thus very helpful for the dehydration.
Electric Fields Weak AC + Transient AC +Strong AC
Applications & FeaturesFor heavy crude oil with high water cut. Large Electric Field room, Intense Electric Field
Strength, high dehydration efficiency.