Using injected additive materials to improve pipeline transportation in real-world experiments and computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

In this paper, an experiment has been conducted where additive materials have been added to heavy crude oil to improve transportation. This is done on a pipeline length of 186 km. During the experiment, materials will be added to the inner pipeline to lubricate the heavy crude oil fiber and reduce the pressure drop. The additive materials, which are Drag-Reducing Agents (DRAs) (These are polymers that reduce the friction between the crude oil and the pipeline walls) are injected into heavy crude oil at different doses (two materials); the doses are 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. A comparison between the cases before and after this additive has been obtained in the pipeline for velocity magnitude, vorticity magnitude, pressure drop, and wall shear stress. It can be observed that doses (8, 10, and 12) obtained a wide range of flow rates with fewer pressure drops than other dose points. The pressure at the city of Al-Faw has been found, and the maximum values are 1.482, 1.413, and 1.399 MPa for doses 12, 8, and 6, respectively. The simulation was done with COMSOL 5.4 Multiphasic software. Flow ranges increase as the dose increases. Shear stress increases with mass injection rate. Transporting heavy crude oil long distances is easier with additive materials. After the additive materials are added, crude oil will be transported for a long time without pressure drops, increasing the flow rate. The two turbines pump heavy crude oil through a 48 inches wide and 186 km long pipeline. These pipelines transfer heavy crude oil from the refinery to Al-Faw City.

Keywords

• Additive Materials
• CFD
• Crude Oil
• Experiment
• Pressure Drop
• Transportation

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