Volatilization of crude oil from saline water

Mass transfer coefficients of the soluble volatile portion of crude oils from distilled and saline (44 g litre⁻¹) waters to the atmosphere were determined at 25, 35 and 45°C. The crude oils used were of API° ranging from 11–28. The calculated activation energies of crude volatilization from solutions were in the range of 10 kcal. A linear relationship between mass transfer coefficients in both distilled and saline waters was obtained. In addition, a regression model was presented for the calculation of the mass transfer coefficient in terms of API° of the crude, as the only characterization parameter of the oil, temperature and ionic strength of the salt. The model has a powerful predictive capability with an average absolute deviation of 3·2% in the range studied.