A refinery in Ponca City, Oklahoma recently added a new desalting system and the customer was looking for a better way to measure the rag layer (emulsion) in the vessel. Historically this has been a difficult level application because of continuous changes in the emulation layer of the liquid. During the separation of water and solids from crude oil or bitumen, a rag layer (or slop oil) emulsion containing a substantial amount of organic material is formed. The presence of natural and added surfactants strongly influences the formation of this layer, which is difficult to treat and measure. After looking at several options, they decided on a system made by ABB K-TEK. The system consists of two KM26 magnetic level gauges, side by side. One KM26 has a float weighted to operate at the water level (bottom of rag layer), while the other KM26 has a float weighted to operate at the rag/oil interface level. This method ensures that the customer knows where the top and bottom of the rag layer are located at all times.
Each KM26 is outfitted with an ABB KTEK AccuTrak AT200 magnetostrictive level transmitter, which senses the float position and transmits it back to the plant DCS via a 4-20 mA signal. Each side of the KM26 has 6 process taps into the vessel. This allows the user to obtain true rag layer level indication from the level gauges. The KM26 floats were carefully designed and weighted to operate in this difficult environment.
The KM26 units are all steam traced and insulated, an option that K-TEK offers to ensure that the process temperature remains consistent. Also, the two AT200 transmitters extend out from the gauge to prevent overheating of the electronics. This is the KM26 L9 option. The desalter system has been in service for three years now with no problems.
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