Open Access

ARTICLE

Experimental Study on Heavy Oil Drag Reduction in Horizontal Pipelines by Water Annular Conveying

Mingjun Du^1,2, Jiaqiang Jing^1,*, Xinqiang Xiong³, Bingbing Lang², Xuan Wang², Shiying Shi^4,*

1 State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China
2 China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp North Company, Renqiu, 062552, China
3 China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing, 100000, China
4 Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, China

* Corresponding Authors: Jiaqiang Jing. Email: ; Shiying Shi. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2022, 18(1), 81-91. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2022.016640

Received 08 April 2021; Accepted 12 August 2021; Issue published 10 November 2021

Abstract

Transportation of heavy oil by the so-called water-ring technique is a very promising method by which pressure drop and pollution can be significantly reduced. Dedicated experiments have been carried out by changing the phase’s density, viscosity, velocity and interfacial tension to systematically analyze the characteristics of the water ring. On the basis of such experimental data, a mathematical model for pressure drop prediction has been introduced. This research shows that as long as the density of oil and water remains the same, a concentric water ring can effectively be formed. In such conditions, the oil-water viscosity difference has little effect on the shape of water ring, and it only affects the pressure drop. The greater the viscosity of heavy oil, the smaller the pressure drop of the oil-water ring transportation system. The influence of phases’ interfacial tension on the characteristics and pressure drop of the heavy oil-water ring can be considered negligible. The pressure drop prediction model introduced on the basis of the Buckingham’s principle provides values in good agreement (95%) with the experimental data.

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