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To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (25106)	10/5/2000 8:34:18 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Not so fast, take a look at this: >>Synthetic Crude Oil. Synthetic crude oil is high quality and has a consistent composition, water-white color (clear) and high paraffin content. Impurities commonly associated with crude oil, such as sulfur, metals, basic sediment and water (BSandW) and salt, are not present in synthetic crude oil. These properties make synthetic crude oil easier to refine into finished products with superior environmental characteristics. Total worldwide demand for crude oil is approximately 70 million barrels per day.<< sec.gov

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (25106)	10/5/2000 8:36:35 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

>>CRUDE OIL PRETREATMENT (DESALTING) Crude oil often contains water, inorganic salts, suspended solids, and water-soluble trace metals. As a first step in the refining process, to reduce corrosion, plugging, and fouling of equipment and to prevent poisoning the catalysts in processing units, these contaminants must be removed by desalting (dehydration). The two most typical methods of crude-oil desalting, chemical and electrostatic separation, use hot water as the extraction agent. In chemical desalting, water and chemical surfactant (demulsifiers) are added to the crude, heated so that salts and other impurities dissolve into the water or attach to the water, and then held in a tank where they settle out. Electrical desalting is the application of high-voltage electrostatic charges to concentrate suspended water globules in the bottom of the settling tank. Surfactants are added only when the crude has a large amount of suspended solids. Both methods of desalting are continuous. A third and less-common process involves filtering heated crude using diatomaceous earth. The feedstock crude oil is heated to between 150 degrees and 350 degrees F to reduce viscosity and surface tension for easier mixing and separation of the water. The temperature is limited by the vapor pressure of the crude-oil feedstock. In both methods other chemicals may be added. Ammonia is often used to reduce corrosion. Caustic or acid may be added to adjust the pH of the water wash. Wastewater and contaminants are discharged from the bottom of the settling tank to the wastewater treatment facility. The desalted crude is continuously drawn from the top of the settling tanks and sent to the crude distillation (fractionating) tower.<< hghouston.com >>In addition, this oil refinery research promises to help the oil and gas industry improve its production while reducing the impact on the environment. Crude taken from deep sea wells is often contaminated with salt water. If the refinery processed the crude oil without first removing the salt, the refining equipment would quickly corrode causing costly repairs. The current technique for removing salt from crude to prevent equipment corrosion requires refineries to use thousands of gallons of fresh water to "wash" the salt water droplets from the crude before starting the refining process. The resulting water is contaminated with salt and other impurities, and it must be cleaned before it is released into the environment. Kilpatrick has found that by manipulating the makeup of crude oil, he can reduce the amount of fresh water needed to remove the salts and other impurities from the crude oil.<< engr.ncsu.edu