Crude oil entering the refinery contains undesirable impurities such as sand, inorganic salts, drill mud, polymers, corrosion particles, and etc. Removing these impurities, especially salt and water, from oil before the distillation process is vital to refinery production efficiency. The role of heat exchangers is very important in this vital process ; heat exchangers are used to preheat crude oil before entering desalter, cooling desalinated oil, and cooling desalinated water before disposal into the environment.
Due to the high corrosion content of crude oil as well as severe sedimentation, the heat exchangers used must, in addition to meeting the required performance requirements in an optimal manner, be made of durable materials and provide high cleaning capability. Gasket, semi-welded and welded plate heat exchangers are the best options depending on the type of process in the desalination of crude oil.