Desalination plants are very important in the processing of crude oil because the amount of water and salt present in crude oil are two factors that determine the quality of crude oil. The removal of water from wet oil streams has long been an essential part of the crude oil processing. Amongst many reasons why desalting and dehydration units are installed is avoiding transportation of high viscosity liquid, as well as water-in-oil emulsions, which require more pumping energy. Nevertheless, crude oil desalting and dehydration has become a necessity because of the salts carried to refineries and the problems caused as a result. In the first chapter of this research, an introduction about the composition of the crude oil and data about its reserves and producers was explained. In the second chapter, the oil treatment process was explained briefly and after this, a literature review of the previous works in the experimental investigation and modeling of oil treatment processes was discussed. In the third chapter, an explanation about the benefits of optimization in industrial processes was presented and a genetic algorithm explained as a good tool for optimization. In the fourth chapter the result obtained for optimization of Rumaila oil treatment processes was is presented. Optimization was performed in both single-objective and multi-objective modes, and optimal conditions were presented for each of these modes. The results show that with the use of the new optimal conditions, the quality of exported oil will increase significantly. In the last chapter, the conclusion is presented and some suggestions proposed for the next researches.
