SPE 68307

Calcium Carbonate and Naphthenate Mixed Scale in Deep-Offshore Fields

Guy Rousseau, Honggang Zhou, Christian Hurtevent, TOTALFINAELF

Copyright 2001, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

The naphthenic acids are found predominantly in immature
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE 3rd International Symposium on Oilfield biodegraded, heavy crudes4. The alteration of petroleum by
Scale held in Aberdeen, UK, 3031 January 2001.
living micro-organisms, which may occur for example when
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
meteoric water is introduced into an accumulation5,
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to significantly increases the density of the crude and, at the
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at same time, decreases the paraffinic components content.
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
On the basis of this, we can presume that acidic crudes most
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is likely contain low levels of paraffins and have higher densities
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous than non acidic crudes. The correlation is quite good for all the
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. wells from the same field or all the fields located in the same
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
block.
Table 2 gives some of the characteristics of crudes from
Abstract Angola block 17: their TAN value, level of paraffin and API
Many of the fields that have been or will be discovered in the degree.
near future show signs of biodegradation of the crude oil. The The table clearly shows that the increase in the level of
result of such biodegradation is a decrease in the amount of paraffin and in the API degree are associated with a decrease
the paraffins associated with the formation of naphthenic in acidity. The results are illustrated in figure 1 which shows
acids. Some of these crude oils may have a Total Acid the relation of TAN versus the level of paraffin, and in figure
Number (TAN) close to 5mg/g. When the reservoir fluid 2 which illustrates the relation of TAN versus API degree.
contains a significant amount of CO2, one can expect to find In addition to corrosion during the refining of acidic crudes,
mixed scale of calcium carbonate and naphthenate. The aim of the naphthenic acids are also responsible for two other
the work conducted was to assess the various factors which problems observed in crude processing, resulting from an
affect the formation of mixed scale. increase in the pH of the reservoir water:
We studied, in particular, the consequences arising from the The formation of mixed carbonate and soap deposits
formation of highly surface-active naphthenates which, inside tubing or surface installations.
depending on the nature of the cations in the formation water,
The build-up of stable emulsions associated with the
can form stable emulsions , calcium naphthenate deposits or
strong surface-active power of the naphthenate group
mixed scale of calcium carbonate and calcium naphthenate.
RCOO-.
This paper presents the ways to prevent emulsions or deposits
resulting from the formation of naphthenates. Chemical
These problems can be avoided through measures which
prevention is the most commonly used method but problems
prevent the pH value of the reservoir water from rising.
can sometimes be solved by modifying the way crude is
processed. We will also describe an example of a modified
Precipitation mechanisms
process that we plan to use.
Terms
Introduction
The fields recently discovered in deep offshore in Angola, in
By convention, the term naphthenic acid refers to all organic
the Congo or in Nigeria produce an oil with a high acid
acids found in crude oil.
content. This observation is not limited to West Africa, as
The term naphthenate is used to designate the RCOO- anion.
some fields from the North Sea and from Venezuela have the
Sodium or calcium salts of the naphthenic acids are called
same characteristics (shown in Table 1).
soaps.
The naphthenic acids in petroleum are considered to be a class
of biological markers1,2,3 closely linked to the maturity and the
biodegradation level of the fields.
2 GUY ROUSSEAU, HONGGANG ZHOU, CHRISTIAN HURTEVENT
Test procedures used
Determination of the pH value for naphthenate dissociation.
1g samples of various distillation cuts from DALIA 3 crude
were mixed with 50g of distilled water. Increasing amounts of
KOH were then added to each sample up to two times the
stoechiometry, in terms of the naphthenic acid content. The
samples were then shaken from time to time and let to settle at
ambient temperature during 48H. At the end of the
experiment, we measured the pH value of the separated water.
The pH values are plotted as a function of the added potassium
hydroxide.
Bottle Test. Emulsions were prepared using a Rayneri turbine
equipped with a 45mm diameter mixer. The procedure
consists in mixing the oil to be tested with 20% reconstituted
formation water brought to the suitable pH at 2000rpm during
3 minutes and then checking the percentage of water settled at
a temperature of 60C versus time.
Dynamic separation test. An emulsion is created on line with
a Dispax turbine by mixing the crude at 60C with 20%
reconstituted formation water. The de-watering capacity of the
dehydration cell is increased using an electric field. At the
outlet, water cut, TAN and calcium are measured on the oil
whereas pH value and interfacial activity are measured on the
water. The flow sheet of the unit is presented in figure 3.
Theoretical background
Calcium carbonate scale. The reservoir waters are naturally
saturated with carbon dioxide which produces carbonic acid,
H2CO3. At bottom hole conditions, the water is in equilibrium
with the rock and the gas of the reservoir.
On the other hand, during the production, the water is drained
to the surface and suffers from a significant pressure drop and
temperature variations: in the tubing, downstream the choke at
the well head, in the exchangers or in the separators.
The successive pressure drops lead to degassing of the carbon
dioxide with an increase in the pH value of the produced
water. This pH increase favours the formation and the
precipitation of calcium carbonate which has very low
solubility, thereby generating undesirable deposits which plug
the chokes or fill the separators.
The chemical relation between carbon dioxide, pH value and
calcite solubility is as follows:
CO2 + H2O HCO3 - + H+
Ca++ + HCO3- CaCO3 + H+
Calcium naphthenate scale. The so-called "naphthenic acids"
are mainly carboxylic acids with saturated cyclic structures,
represented by a general formula CnH2n-zO2 where n indicates
the carbon number and z specifies a homologous series, 0 for
saturated acyclic acids to 8 in tetracyclic acids6.
SPE 68307
The low molecular weight naphthenic acids contain alkylated
cyclopentane carboxylic acids with smaller amounts of
cyclohexane derivatives:
(CH2)n COOH (C H 2 )n C OOH
1500 acids were identified in a single California crude7 with
boiling points ranging from 250 to 350C. They are fully
soluble in organic solvents and quite insoluble in water. Figure
4 shows the mass spectrometer of the naphthenic acids
extracted from DALIA 3 by anionic resin.
The naphthenic acids of the crude will respect acid-base
equilibrium reactions in a multiphase system,
The acid partitioning between oil and water phases:
( Ri COOH aq )
= K part
( Ri COOH hc )
The acid dissociation with a dissociation constant:
( Ri COO )( H + )
= K diss
( Ri COOH aq )
Only the low molecular weight aliphatic naphthenic acids are
slightly soluble in water, thus, for a given constant of
dissociation and at the same pH value, the lightest acids are
able to produce more naphthenate groups than the heavy acids.
The increase in the pH value associated with carbon dioxide
degassing will cause the acids to dissociate, depending on their
pKa.
A number of studies have attempted to determine the pKa8,9 of
the various families of naphthenic acids a complicated task
in view of the number of different acids present in a given
crude. However, this pKa value does not take into account the
very low solubility of these organic acids in the water phase.
When acids are not fully dissolved in the water phase, the
amount of dissociated acids depends not only on the pKa
value, but also on their partitioning coefficient. The higher the
pH value the heavier the naphthenates, even if the pKa values
of light and heavy acids are close. The potential power for a
naphthenic acid to create stable emulsions depends on its
partitioning coefficient, which may be correlated to its
molecular weight. In a report published in 1969, Seifert and
Howells say that the average molecular weights of the
interfacially active acids range from 300 to 40010.
The cations in the reservoir water can react with RCCO-
naphthenate groups to form salts, commonly named soaps,
essentially sodium and calcium naphthenates, which will
distribute between oil and water depending on their affinity for
either phase.
Low molecular-weight sodium naphthenates tend to pass
into the water phase. Calcium, as a divalent cation, is
associated with two naphthenate groups,
SPE 68307 CALCIUM CARBONATE AND NAPHTHENATE MIXED SCALE IN DEEP-OFFSHORE FIELDS
calcium naphthenate is more lipophilic and preferentially goes
to the oil phase or to the oil & water interface.
When the soap concentration exceeds the solubility, the
precipitation of a solid deposit or in some cases the formation
of an intermediate third phase between the oil and the water
phases is observed.
Thus, it is understood that carbon dioxide degassing during the
production can form both strong emulsions and/or mixed
calcium carbonate and naphthenate scale:
RCOO- emu lsion
CO2 (RCOO)2Ca deposits
pH
CO3--
pH
HCO3-
CaCO3 deposits
The release of CO2 by displacement of the calco-carbonic
balance causes an increase of the pH value of the reservoir
water, followed by a competition between the formation of
calcium naphthenate and the kinetics of calcium carbonate
precipitation. The result is the potential formation of mixed
calcium carbonate and naphthenate scale and/or emulsion
problems associated with a decrease of the pH value if the
water is not buffered by bicarbonate.
In the absence of bicarbonate, an increase in the pH value
due to CO2 degassing produces naphthenates and, at the same
time, the dissociation of the naphthenic acids releases protons
which act against the pH value increase and thus impede the
formation of naphthenates.
In the opposite case, naphthenates are produced as long as
some bicarbonate is available to buffer the medium.
Thus, the three species which contribute to calcium
naphthenate deposits are RCOO-, Ca++ and HCO3-, the
limiting element for naphthenate formation being the one with
the lowest concentration.
From this, it comes in mind that the following criteria
should be taken into account in the prediction of stable
emulsion and/or deposits during the processing of an acidic
crude:
As for water: its pH value at process conditions as well as
the level of bicarbonate and calcium content at reservoir
conditions.
As for oil: the amount of available naphthenic acids.
On the basis of a 20% water cut (4Kg of crude and 1Kg of
formation water), we have summarised in table 3, the values
pertaining to some crudes in West Africa.
As regards the crudes studied, the level of calcium is never the
limiting factor but this is not the case for the level of
3
bicarbonate, which determines the potential quantity of
hazardous acids. ORQUIDEA crude seems to be the worst
case.
Carbonate scale can be combined with naphthenates.
Carbonates produce deposits whereas naphthenates can form
emulsions or deposits at the interface. None of the models on
the market take into account this potential formation of mixed
scale with acidic crudes. As a result, the precipitable quantities
of calcium carbonate are systematically overestimated.
Experimental results
Molecular weight distribution of the acids in the crude
The partitioning of the species between oil and water, just as
the formation of emulsions and/or deposits, is also associated
with the solubility of the acids and with the nature of the
cations in formation water. Depending partly on their
molecular weight, naphthenates are more or less soluble in
water. Thus, we selected some crudes for their ability to
induce problems in process equipment and studied the
distribution of the naphthenic acids in distillation cuts, which
correlates more or less with the molecular weight distribution
of the acids and their solubility in water phase.
The table 4 gives the TAN values of the different cuts as well
as their respective weight percentage and the corresponding
quantity of naphthenic acids expressed in milliequivalent per
kilogram of crude.
Determination of the pH value for naphthenate
dissociation
The risk of emulsion and/or scaling depends on the TAN but
also on the available naphthenate ions. This quantity can be
evaluated using the procedure described previously. By
plotting the pH values as a function of the added potassium
hydroxide, we can evaluate the amounts of dissociated
naphthenic acids in the different cuts.
Figure 5 shows that acids in light cuts dissociate at a lower pH
value. At a pH of 6.2, we will produce essentially
naphthenates corresponding to the 150-230 cut with some of
the 230-350 whereas at 7.2 we will produce essentially
naphthenates corresponding to the 230-350 cut with some of
the highest. To dissociate all the naphthenic acids included the
heaviest, the final pH should be higher than 11. The higher the
pH value the higher the naphthenate concentration.
Emulsion and acidity
To shed light on the effect of the acidity on the ability to
produce stable emulsions, we partially deacidified a crude by
adsorbing the acids on an anionic resin. We then conducted a
set of standard Bottle Tests. The results are given in figure 6.
This figure clearly shows that the efficiency of separation
depends on the level of acid content. The sample with the
lowest TAN separates very quickly without the help of any
additive, after 2 hours 80% of the water is separated from the
crude. On the other hand, the water starts to settle from the
4 GUY ROUSSEAU, HONGGANG ZHOU, CHRISTIAN HURTEVENT
original crude slowly after 10 minutes and at the end of the
experiment only 30% of free water remains.
Emulsion and pH
The pH effect of the formation water on the stabilisation of
emulsions was demonstrated using the standard Bottle Test
procedure previously described. The results are presented
figure 7.
For the DALIA 1 crude, no emulsion problems occur for a pH
value of 6.1 or 6.8, but when the pH value is 7.2, a high
stabilisation of the emulsion is observed, resulting from the
formation of a large quantity of interfacially active
naphthenates.
Comparison of emulsion stability for different crudes
Using the standard Bottle Test procedure, we compared the
Oil & Water separation of the previous crudes emulsified with
20% synthetic formation water. The results are illustrated in
figure 8.
DALIA 1, with a low TAN, has the best separation efficiency,
but ORQUIDEA and DALIA 2, with the highest TAN, exhibit
better results than CAMELIA. It seems that there is no direct
correlation between TAN and the separation efficiency when
comparing the different crudes.
Deposits
Calcium naphthenate deposits were isolated in a dehydration
test of ORQUIDEA crude under dynamic conditions. The pilot
used for this experiment is schematised in figure 3. We used
20% synthetic formation water at an initial pH value of 7.4.
The emulsion was created using a DISPAX turbine at a speed
above 8000rpm. The temperature was set to 60C. An electric
field was employed to improve oil & water separation. The
electrical field makes it possible to obtain a water cut lower
than 1%.
After several hours, we noticed the build-up of a viscous
interface which increased with time, associated with a
degradation in the separation efficiency as shown figure 9.
At the end of the experiment, the interface was isolated. The
TAN of the interface was measured at 12 compared to 3.73 for
the crude. This interface was then centrifuged at 9000rpm and
yielded a third solid phase between oil and water, identified as
calcium naphthenate soaps.
The average molecular weight of the naphthenic acids
extracted from these soaps was evaluated by titration at 300.
Discussion
For carboxylic monoacids, the pKa value can probably not
vary over several units. The key point, which determines the
amount of dissociated acids, is their coefficient of partitioning
between the water and oil phases.
This partitioning coefficient can be correlated to the molecular
weight of the acids. The lower the molecular weight the higher
the solubility in water, and the higher the amount of
dissociated acids at a given pH value.
SPE 68307
Results obtained with different cuts also confirm this
hypothesis. Acids in the heavier cuts are less soluble in water
and therefore require higher pH values to dissociate.
Figure 5 shows that for a pH value of 6.5, only acids contained
in the 150-230 and 230-350 cuts are reactive. The behaviour
of crudes in terms of emulsion and deposits are strongly
dependent on acids contained in these cuts.
The crudes mentioned above contain a significant amount of
acids in these cuts. However, some differences can be
observed: Only DALIA 1 and CAMELIA, which have the
lowest TAN, contain acids in the 150-230 cut (figure 10).
Consequently, for these crudes, the carbonate scaling potential
is very limited as explained earlier.
The Bottle Tests show an incidence of TAN (figure 6), of
formation water pH value (figure 7), and of acid distribution
on the stabilisation of the emulsion. The distribution of the
acids in the distillation cuts is specific to one crude. This
explains the differences in behaviour observed between oils.
The relation between acid distribution and surfactant effect is
not yet clearly established and will be the aim of further work.
The only calcium naphthenate deposits observed were in
dynamic dehydration test with an electric field. The conditions
for soap deposit accumulation appear to be reached only at
very low water cuts.
Prevention
The problems associated with the processing of acidic crudes
are due to the formation of naphthenates, which result from an
increase in the pH value of the formation water. All
procedures which can prevent the pH from increasing should
be effective in avoiding naphthenate formation.
Addition of acids
The addition of a mineral or organic acid is the most obvious
idea, but this depends on the bicarbonate buffer in the
formation water. Batch injection should be preferred over
continuous injection because a significant important part of
acid is used to consume the bicarbonate buffer. However, even
injection by batch has its shortcomings as the cost is high and
it can lead to safety problems. Hydrochloric acid is preferred
due to its efficiency and its lower cost, but when corrosion is
an issue, operators replace HCl by acetic or formic acid.
Specific additives
Some demulsifiers or dispersants give encouraging results but
they need to be adapted to the specificity of the crude. An
additive which works well with one crude can be inefficient
with another.
Crude processing modifications
On block 17, the pH value of the reservoir water is 6.5 at a
pressure of 10 bar, and it can reach 7.5 at atmospheric
pressure. Processing the oil and water separation under
pressure hinders the formation of surface active naphthenates,
which are inevitable when the pH value equals 7.5. Once most
SPE 68307 CALCIUM CARBONATE AND NAPHTHENATE MIXED SCALE IN DEEP-OFFSHORE FIELDS 5

of the water is separated from the oil, the carbon dioxide can 6. James A. Brient, Peter J. Wessner, Mary Noon Doyle,
be released without any risk to the rest of the process line. Naphthenic acids , Kirk Othmer encyclopaedia,
Vol.16, 1017-1029.
Conclusions 7. W. Seifert, in W. Herz, H. Grisebach, and G. Kirby,
Progress in the chemistry of Organic Natural
1. During the production of acidic crudes, increases in the Products , 1975, 32 1-49.
pH value due to CO2 degassing leads to the formation of 8. Niyazov, A.N. ; Amanov, K.B.; Trapeznikova, V.F. ;
potentially surface-active naphthenates. Depending on the Chirkova, B.V., Solubility and dissociation constants of
nature of the acids in the crude this induces the formation some alicyclic acids , Khim. Geol. Nauuk, 1975 , (4),
of strong emulsions difficult to break with conventional 121-123.
additives or causes the precipitation of mixed calcium 9. Maria Lupe Marquez, Interfacial activity of native acids
carbonate and calcium naphthenate scale. in heavy crude oils , AICHE Spring National Meeting
2. Efficient prevention methods must be developed. The Session T6005, March 14-18, 1999.
modification of the crude processing by operating the 10. Seifert, W.K. ; Howells, W.G., Analytical chemistry,
wateroil separation under pressure can be an alternative 1968, 41 (4) 554-562.
to chemical treatments. The main goal is to keep the pH
value of the formation water below the threshold of
interfacially-active naphthenate production.
3. The laboratory experiments required to investigate the
potential problems related to the processing of an acidic
crude require heavy equipment. Also, it is not easy to find
a reliable correlation with the analytical results.
4. The potential formation of mixed calcium carbonate and Crude Country TAN
calcium naphthenate scale is not taken into account by the (mg KOH/g)
existing models which thus overestimate the precipitable
quantities of carbonate in case of acidic crude. CAMELIA Angola 1.90
DALIA 2 Angola 2.37
Acknowledgements
ORQUIDEA Angola 3.73
The authors would like to thank TOTALFINAELF for the
MOHO Congo 0.87
permission to publish this paper.
BILONDO Congo 1.80
References
UKOT Nigeria 1.01
1. RF-Rogaland Research Institute, The relationship AFIA Nigeria 1.20
between biodegradation, total acid number (TAN) and
IME Nigeria 2.08
metals in oils , American Chemical Society. Division of
Petroleum Chemistry, 1998, 43 (1) 142-145. ALBA North Sea 1.83
2. Tseng-pu Fann, Characterization of naphthenic acids in
CAPTAIN North Sea 2.32
petroleum by fast atom bombardment mass
spectrometry , Energy & fuels, 1991, 5 (3) 371-375. HEIDRUN North Sea 2.60
3. Koike, L. ; Reboucas, L. ; Marsaioli, A. ; Richnow, H. ;
Michaelis, W., Naphthenic acids from crude oils of LAGOTRECO Venezuela 1.18
Campos Basin , Organic geochemistry, 1992, 18 (6) 851- MEREY Venezuela 1.24
860.
LAGUNA Venezuela 4.10
4. Robbins W. K., EXXON research & Eng Co,
Challenges in the characterisation of naphthenic acids in
petroleum , ACS Petrol Chem Div preprint, 1998, 43 (1) Table 1 : TAN of crudes from different fields
137-140.
5. Nascimento, L. ; Reboucas, L. ; Koike, L. ; Reis, F. ;
Soldan, A. ; Cerqueira, J. ; Marsaioli, A., Acidic
biomarkers from Albacora oils, Campos Basin, Brazil ,
Organic geochemistry, 1999, 30 (9) 1175-1191.
6 GUY ROUSSEAU, HONGGANG ZHOU, CHRISTIAN HURTEVENT SPE 68307

Crude % Paraffin API TAN

(mg KOH/g)

CAMELIA 0.49 23.02 1.90

DALIA 3 1.33 23.68 1.37
TULIPA 1.61 24.14 1.11
LIRIO 3.47 32.38 0.54
GIRASSOL 5.34 30.60 0.38
CRAVO 5.90 32.88 0.35

Table 2 : Paraffin level, API degree and TAN values for acidic crudes from block 17

-
Crude TAN Acids HCO3 Calcium Potentially hazardous acids
(mg KOH/g) (meq) (meq) (meq) (meq)
DALIA 1 1.59 113 18 150 18

DALIA 2 2.37 169 22 127 22

ORQUIDEA 3.73 266 31 74 31

CAMELIA 1.9 135 18 180 18

Table 3 : Criteria determining the potentially hazardous acids

TAN IBP - 240 240 - 320 320 - 370 370 +

Crude
(mg KOH/g) TAN % meq/Kg TAN % meq/Kg TAN % meq/Kg TAN % meq/Kg

AFIA 1.20 0.22 6.00 0.24 0.53 13.00 1.23 1.20 16.00 3.42 0.99 38.00 6.71

ALBA 1.83 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.40 5.00 0.36 1.50 10.00 2.67 2.30 85.00 34.85

DALIA 3 1.37 0.86 9.00 1.38 1.70 20.00 6.06 2.70 22.00 10.59 0.17 7.00 0.21

HEIDRUN 2.60 0.13 1.00 0.02 1.60 11.00 3.14 4.60 23.00 18.86 3.90 63.00 43.80

Table 4 : Acid distribution in distillation cuts

Figure 1 : Variation of TAN versus the level of paraffin

D e e p w a te r W e s t A fr ica

2 .0

1 .8

1 .6

1 .4
TAN (mg KOH/g)

1 .2

1 .0

0 .8

0 .6

0 .4

0 .2

0 .0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
% P a ra ffi n
SPE 68307 CALCIUM CARBONATE AND NAPHTHENATE MIXED SCALE IN DEEP-OFFSHORE FIELDS 7

Deepwater West Africa 11

2.0
10
1.8

1.6 9

final pH value
1.4
TAN (mg KOH/g)

8
1.2

1.0 7
150-230
0.8 230-350
6 350-400
0.6 400-550
0.4 5 crude

0.2
4
0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
22 24 26 28 30 32 34
added KOH (mmole/l)
API

Figure 2 : Correlation between API and TAN values Figure 5 : Acid dissociation versus distillation cuts

Separation efficiency at various TAN

90

80

70
Free Water (%)

60
TAN = 3.43
50
TAN = 1.16
40 TAN = 0.18
30

20

10

0
0 40 80 120
Time (mn)

Figure 3 : Dehydration pilot unit Figure 6 : Effect of acids on the stabilisation of

emulsions

Separation efficiency at different pH

80
70
Free water (%)

60
50 DALIA 1-pH= 6.1
40 DALIA 1-pH= 6.8
30 DALIA 1-pH= 7.2
20
10
0
0 40 80 120
Time (mn)

Figure 4 : Mass spectrometer values for acids from Figure 7 : Incidence of pH on separation efficiency
DALIA 3
8 GUY ROUSSEAU, HONGGANG ZHOU, CHRISTIAN HURTEVENT SPE 68307

S e p a r a t i o n e f f i c i e n c y o f v a r i o u s c r u d e s - f i n a l p H = 6 .7

90
80
70
Free Water (%)

60
D A L IA 1
50 D A L IA 2
O R C H ID E A
40
C A M E L IA
30
20
10
0
0 40 80 120
T im e (m n )

Figure 8 : Separation efficiency of various crudes

W a te r C u t v e rs u s T im e

2
Water Cut (%)

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
T i m e (H )

Figure 9 : Water cut versus time in dynamic dehydration

Distribution of acids in cuts

18
16
14
Acids (meq)

12 ORQUIDEA
10 DALIA 2
8 DALIA 1
6 CAMELIA
4
2
0
150-230 cut 230-350 cut 350-400 cut 400-550 cut 550+ cut

Figure 10 : Distribution of naphthenic acids in cuts