July 29, 2019 [Tank News International] – Oil and gas downstream equipment supplier, Frames, has designed and supplied an electrostatic colaescer for kerosene treatment to the Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A.U. (Cepsa) San Roque Refinery, located in the Bay of Gibraltar in Spain.

 
Frames’ electrostatic coalescence technology is used as a prewash to reduce the acidity of a kerosene feed stream. During the processing of refinery-produced feedstocks various impurities are left in the petrochemical end-products. Some of these impurities can be removed by using Frames Electrostatic Coalescers.
 
At the San Roque Refinery, the Frames Electrostatic Coalescer Prewash vessel has been installed to reduce the acidity of the kerosene feed stream by neutralising naphthenic acids utilising a weak caustic solution. Cepsa selected Frames electrostatic coalescence technology for this project as it provides a high quality technical solution that reduces the use of chemicals and minimising disposal requirements.
 
“We are encouraged to see that Frames’ Electrostatic Coalescers are selected by our clients in a growing number of refineries across the world,” said Geert Willemse, Product Specialist – Separators & Treaters at Frames. “It shows that our equipment is recognised as a cost-effective solution for reducing impurities for a wide range of feed streams.”
 
The electrostatic process utilised in Frames Electrostatic Coalescers is a highly effective way to remove the impurities found in various distillate streams. It works by removing impurities from the distillate through the addition of an aqueous chemical reagent to the distillate stream, dispersing the reagent throughout the stream in extremely small droplets and exposing the mixture to the influence of an electric field. Once exposed to the electric field, the reagent is coalesced and separated from the distillate, taking along with it impurities that react with or dissolve in that reagent. The reagent is virtually insoluble in the oil this enables the separation of the reagent and the impurities from the oil.
 
Depending on the impurities that must be removed from a particular distillate, the reagent may be water, caustic or acid. In some applications, two or three coalescers may be installed in series to provide several treating stages.

 
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