Abstract: Pretreatment of heavy crude oil is generally difficult. The operation of two sets of desalting devices in Tahe Co., is poor, and the average content of salt basically remains at 10-12 mgNaCl/L. It brings great difficulties to the corrosion prevention and safe operation of the subsequent distillation and hydrogenation units. Tahe heavy crude oil pretreatment (Desalination) was tested using an enhanced mass transfer fiber membrane technology to investigate the influence of temperature, residence time, water injection rate, crude feed rate, and drainage recycle on desalination efficiency. The results were compared with the data of the oil from the third electrical desalter of industrial unit. It is clear that the desalting effect of membrane pretreatment technology has a certain advantage in desalination of heavy crude oil over the comparison object. Some suggestions are put forward for the application of membrane technology.

Key words: crude oil, membrane, desalting rate, water injection rate