Description
Heater Treater and Heated Separators
Both a heater treater and a heated separator is mainly a 3-phase separator with the addition of a firetube or heating element.
Heater treaters are used to break oil-water emulsions and flash off light ends from the oil phase. By applying heat to the process, we speed the separation of heavier particles from the oil phase. Heater treaters operates at a lower PSIG than a heated separator
Heated separators are designed to efficiently separate liquids and gas while also introducing heat to protect production equipment, valves and pipelines from clogging due to the buildup of paraffin. They have a higher pressure than a heater treater so it can max out flange classes.
Heater treaters may be vertical or horizontal in configuration. Vertical HT’s will have a lower retention time than horizontal HT’s. Horizontal heater treaters have a much larger oil treating section than verticals. Heater Treaters usually operate at a low pressure. These vessels are normally second in the process line following a high-pressure separator.
Heat duty is required to get a better sizing of a heated separated, and in the configurator we are taking into account duty’s in four different stages. The heat duty used should be a Net value for the fire tube sizing. Gross heat duty is used to size the Burner Management System and is not needed in this application
Power Service works daily with customers to get specific heated separators designed depending on the customer needs, so if you require further configuration or a special system that is needing more in-depth engineering, you can work directly with our application specialist and engineering team at eSpec@dnow.com.
