Heater Treaters Diverse Energy System

Overview
Heater Treaters, an essential piece of equipment in the production process, break up wellstream emulsions,
separating the crude oil from water and other foreign materials. Gas is liberated prior to the filtering and settling
sections, allowing liquid and sediment separation without the agitation of gas breaking out of the liquid.
The most commonly used single-well treater is the Vertical Heater Treater. It consists of three major sections: gas
separation, FWKO, and heating section. Flow enters the top of the treater into a gas separation section, oil and water
travel down through the downcommer to the heated section where the heat breaks the emulsion which results into
forming larger droplets until they star settling downward to the water section. At that point clean oil at the top of the
heated section spills over and out of the vessel and water is removed through an external adjustable water leg
controlled by a head pressure operated dump valve.
A horizontal treater can handle large amounts of emulsion by utilizing a long U shaped firetube. This firetube has
greater heating capacity, thereby allowing a higher treating rate. The large horizontal interface area in the settling
section allows for more efficient separation of emulsion and gas release. Horizontal treaters must operate under
pressure to boost oil to storage tanks.

Design Conditions Required

What we need to know before recommending a specific Heater Treater:

Operating Pressure

Oil Rate BBL/Day

Water Rate BBL/Day

Flowing Temperature

API Gravity of Oil

Sour Gas

CO2

Features
Gas separation section designed to thin film entering emulsion for quick gas break

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out.

Immersed downcomer piping from gas separation section to emulsion spreader

serves as an effective heat exchanger to preheat incoming emulsion and cool the clean oil.
Deep Freewater Knockout sections below the firebox provides isolation and draw off

free water, thereby avoiding unnecessary heating of water and conserving fuel.
Emulsion spreader rapidly breaks the emulsion and oil into small streamlets for rapid

heat transfer by the hot water washing method and assuring minimum fuel consumption.
Hot water wash heating method reduces foaming tendencies and prolongs firebox

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life.
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High capacity firebox furnishes abundant heat and quick response to thermostatically
controlled demand.

Quick adjustable outside water siphon provides easy interface control over a wide
range of water and oil specific gravities.

Adequate surge volume in the clean oil section relieves heading overload in gas
separation section eliminating the possibility of liquid carry-over with the gas.

Cool underside of the diaphragm plate between the gas separation section and the
settling section condenses vapors released in the heating gas that can be recovered in the
stock tank product. Mixing of hot vapors with cool incoming gas in the gas separation section
condenses additional recoverable vapors for additional product volume and gravity
conservation.

The coalescing properties, of a filter section are not required.