Heavy Crude Oil Viscosity Reduction for Pipeline Transportation

Yaghi, Basma; Al-Bemani, Ali

doi:10.1080/00908310252774417

Cited by 123 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, it is well known that heavy crude oil can exhibit non-Newtonian behavior because of the structured network formed by macromolecules, such as asphaltene [17]. Although a numbers of studies report how the heavy crude oil viscosity responds to shear rate [18][19][20][21][22][23][24], only a few address CO2 and heavy crude oil mixtures. To our best knowledge, only the work by Behzadfar et al reported the rheology measurement of the mixture of CO2 and a bitumen [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheology and Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide and Crude Oil Mixtures

Crawshaw

Trusler

et al. 2016

Energy Fuels

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KEYWORDSRheology, phase behavior, heavy crude oil, carbon dioxide, viscosity, non-Newtonian fluid ABSTRACTThe rheology of Zuata heavy crude oil, saturated with carbon dioxide, was studied at a temperature of 50 °C and pressures up to 220 bar. Observations of phase behavior were also reported and used to interpret the rheological data. The crude oil is very viscous and non-Newtonian at ambient pressure, but when brought into equilibrium with CO2 the non-Newtonian behavior was weakened and eventually disappeared at high CO2 pressures. When diluted with 10 wt% and 30 wt% toluene, the diluted crude oils and their mixtures with CO2 behaved as Newtonian fluids. The CO2 saturated mixture of the crude oil samples showed an exponential decrease in viscosity with increasing CO2 pressure, but an increase in viscosity at higher pressures. Observing through a view cell, the CO2 dissolution caused a swelling effect on the original crude. When saturated with CO2, the swelling effect also occurred on the 10 wt% diluted crude oil, but the volume of the oil rich phase was 2 decreased at higher pressures. However, for the 30 wt% diluted crude oil, a second liquid phase was observed on top of the oil rich phase, at pressures higher than the CO2 critical point. The mixture viscosity was inversely proportional to the CO2 solubility.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheology and Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide and Crude Oil Mixtures

Crawshaw

Trusler

et al. 2016

Energy Fuels

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“…It is obvious that emulsification could help high pressure drop to moderately low one by reduction of almost 99% per unit length of pipeline. Comparison made between the results of this research and that of [7][8][9] that was such an experimental pressure gradient measurement, indicates good consistency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…Low or high interfacial tension representing the energy needed for rupturing the drops and the dis/similarity to a hard sphere 1 . Finally, an increment in the droplet size at a certain volume fraction, included with decreasing surface per unit volume -which means decreasing friction-and lowering viscosity [9][10] .…”

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confidence: 99%

Prediction of Flow Behavior of Crude Oil-in-Water Emulsion through the Pipe by Using Rheological Properties

Hoshyargar¹,

Marjani²,

Fadaei³

et al. 2012

Orientjchem.

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“…These methods include heating the crude (Yaghi and Al-Bemani 2002;Saniere et al 2004), dilution with light oil (Yaghi and Al-Bemani 2002;Iona 1978), formation of stable oil-in-water emulsions (Yaghi and Al-Bemani 2002;Lappin and Saur 1989;Gregoli et al 2006), or imposing core annular flow (Joseph et al 1997). Yaghi and Al-Bemani (2002) have experimentally concluded that transporting heavy crude by heating or dilution is an expensive option. They found that it is cheaper to transport it as oil-in-water emulsion with an optimum oil content of around 70 %.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike core annular flow, the report by Simon and Poynter (1970) has shown that restarting a pipeline after an emergency shutdown and re-emulsification of oil does not pose major problems. The formation of oil-in-water emulsions can cause a reduction of oil viscosity by more than 2 orders of magnitude (Yaghi and Al-Bemani 2002). In addition, Simon and Poynter (1970) reported that since water is the continuous phase, crudes have no contact with the pipe wall and this can reduce the pipe corrosion especially for crude having high sulfur content.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation of the effects of various parameters on viscosity reduction of heavy crude by oil–water emulsion

Al-Wahaibi

Al-Hashmi

et al. 2015

Pet. Sci.

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The effects of water content, shear rate, temperature, and solid particle concentration on viscosity reduction (VR) caused by forming stable emulsions were investigated using Omani heavy crude oil. The viscosity of the crude oil was initially measured with respect to shear rates at different temperatures from 20 to 70°C. The crude oil exhibited a shear thinning behavior at all the temperatures. The strongest shear thinning was observed at 20°C. A non-ionic water soluble surfactant (Triton X-100) was used to form and stabilize crude oil emulsions. The emulsification process has significantly reduced the crude oil viscosity. The degree of VR was found to increase with an increase in water content and reach its maximum value at 50 % water content. The phase inversion from oil-in-water emulsion to water-inoil emulsion occurred at 30 % water content. The results indicated that the VR was inversely proportional to temperature and concentration of silica nanoparticles. For water-in-oil emulsions, VR increased with shear rate and eventually reached a plateau at a shear rate of around 350 s -1 . This was attributed to the thinning behavior of the continuous phase. The VR of oil-in-water emulsions remained almost constant as the shear rate increased due to the Newtonian behavior of water, the continuous phase.

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Heavy Crude Oil Viscosity Reduction for Pipeline Transportation

Cited by 123 publications

References 5 publications

Rheology and Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide and Crude Oil Mixtures

Rheology and Phase Behavior of Carbon Dioxide and Crude Oil Mixtures

Prediction of Flow Behavior of Crude Oil-in-Water Emulsion through the Pipe by Using Rheological Properties

Experimental investigation of the effects of various parameters on viscosity reduction of heavy crude by oil–water emulsion

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