Regular reduced crown cutting water: colorless, white, black, emulsive – what does each of these indicate?
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I have been working in this position for a few months; it’s common to see changes in the color of the liquid – it can be colorless, white, black, or emulsified. Colorless is probably the most normal state. So what causes the other colors? How should such situations be handled?
The white emulsion is likely due to ammonium chloride crystals, while the black emulsion is caused by black ferrous sulfide. The presence of an emulsion indicates that the pH value is too high, resulting in incomplete separation of oil and water and the formation of an oil-water emulsion in the cut water.
The cut water is best when colorless and transparent. The white, emulsive appearance may be caused by an excessive amount of corrosion inhibitor in the mixture, or by a high pH value. The black color indicates severe corrosion; it could also be due to large fluctuations at the top of the tower and changes in gas flow rate, which result in erosion of the inner walls of the equipment and pipelines, washing away dirt and deposits such as ferrous sulfide from those inner walls.