Study of Heavy Crude Oil Flows in Pipelines with Electromagnetic Heaters

Abstract

The electromagnetic heating of heavy crude oil in cylindrical pipes represents a novel technique to reduce fluid viscosity and diminish the cost required for its transportation. In this study, the oil viscous fluid momentum and energy balances, which include the effects of electromagnetic heating, variable viscosity, and fluid dielectric properties, are solved in cylindrical coordinates. The electromagnetic energy absorbed by oil is converted into sensible heat, which could significantly reduce the viscosity of heavy crude oil fluids. This drop in fluid viscosity diminishes flow pressure losses in pipelines, which reduces the number and size of pumping stations between oil producers and consumers. Different pipe materials are considered here to determine the effect of their dielectric properties in the fluid flow. Simulation results show that pipe materials with large electromagnetic absorption tend to attenuate the pipe interior electromagnetic field, which reduces the direct warming of the fluid. This significant reduction in the direct fluid heating suggests that pipes made by transparent electromagnetic materials are preferred for this type of application. A fixed cost analysis of using electromagnetic heaters was made to maximize the distance between pump stations in a long pipeline stretch. The simulation results demonstrate that electromagnetic heaters increase the distance between pump stations by 30%.

Preventing crude oil adhesion using fully waterborne coatings

“…Strategies that can facilitate the utilization of heavy crude oil are highly desirable due to the declining production of conventional light and medium crude oil . In addition, the transportation of heavy crude oil has typically presented significant technical and economic challenges because of its high viscosity . The coating was also found to repel other liquids such as KOH, H 2 SO 4 , and NaCl solutions, as well as cola and vinegar.…”

Ultrasonic and Heat Treatment of Crude Oils

“…The methods of friction reduction include the flow of oil limited by a thin layer of water in the boundary area [4,5] and the use of various additives [6][7][8][9]. Methods of viscosity reduction include heating [10][11][12], ultrasonic treatment [13][14][15][16][17], emulsification of oil in water [18][19][20][21][22], and dilution (mixing with a thinning liquid with lower viscosity, for example, condensate from natural gas extraction, naphtha, kerosene, lighter crude oil, etc.) [23][24][25].…”

Enhancing the flexibility of pipeline infrastructure to cope with heavy oils: Incremental thermal retrofit

“…insulation layer, burial) and, in most cases, reheating at later locations. Examples of existing heated pipelines are Alyeska in Alaska [3], Chad-Cameroon [6,7] (both with heating at pumping stations) and Mangala in India (with continuous heating along the entire length of the pipeline) [8].…”

“…However, not many are suitable to retrofit existing infrastructures. In fact, although thermal strategies are generally considered viable for long, insulated pipelines with heating provided at pumping stations, recent works indicate that the development of new technologies applicable at intermediate locations can lead to significant increase of the length between pumping stations [7], reducing the high capital cost of pipeline infrastructures. In this paper, intermediate point heating is considered as the means to adapt existing pipelines to transportation of heavier feedstock, with the objective of minimizing the loss in throughput.…”