This work is a thermo-fluid numerical case study to investigate the size and performance of a system that eliminates needs for insulating, heating and inhibiting chemically the deposition of wax in subsea tie-in flowl...This work is a thermo-fluid numerical case study to investigate the size and performance of a system that eliminates needs for insulating, heating and inhibiting chemically the deposition of wax in subsea tie-in flowlines. For short, we call this type of systems “Cold Flow”. The particular system analyzed in this study consists of a reactor unit at the inlet to the flowline, where the thermal solubility of the wax-creating molecules is reduced by cooling. Subsequently, solid wax is deposited in the reactor piping and wax free crude is entering the flowline. The reactor is regenerated periodically. The reactor-pipeline system was modelled using a commercial flowline simulator, with transient, thermal, multiphase and deposition capabilities. The basic layout used was a transportation pipeline of 8 km and 6.69 in ID with a mass flow rate of 17.51 kg/s, a water cut (WC) of zero and an inlet temperature of 70°C. The wax appearance temperature (cloud point) of the crude is 22°C and the seabed temperature is 4°C. Three types of reactors have been simulated: a non-insulated pipe section, a passive cooler with a bundle of parallel pipes and an active cooler. Sensitivity analyses have been performed for all three cases varying the external convective coefficient, the reactor pipeline diameter and the WC. For a non-insulated pipeline section cooler, the required length is of the same order of magnitude as the main flowline, implying that such a solution is impractical for short flowline distances or when a compact deployment is desired. For the passive cooler case, the required length was half of that in the previous case;thus it is still significant. For the active cooler reactor, the required cooling duty was 2.2 MW. In all three cases, the pipe-flow dynamics were analyzed, and the pigging arrangement complexity has been qualitatively addressed. However, the detailed design falls out of the scope of this study.展开更多
The present study investigated the wax deposition tendencies of a light Malaysian crude oil（42.4° API）, and the wax inhibiting potential of some surfactants and their blends with nanoparticles. With the knowled...The present study investigated the wax deposition tendencies of a light Malaysian crude oil（42.4° API）, and the wax inhibiting potential of some surfactants and their blends with nanoparticles. With the knowledge that the majority of the wax inhibition research revolved around polymeric wax inhibitors, which cause environmental issues, we highlighted the potential of surfactants and their blend with SiO2 nanoparticles as wax deposition inhibitors. Different surfactants including oil-based, silane-based, Gemini and bio-surfactants were considered as primary surfactants. The primary surfactants and their respective blends at a concentration of 400 ppm were screened as wax inhibitor candidates using cold finger apparatus. The screening results showed a significant influence on the paraffin inhibition efficiency on wax deposition by using 400 ppm of silane-based surfactant, which decreased the wax deposition up to 53.9% as compared to that of the untreated crude oil. The inhibition efficiency among the silane-based surfactant（highest） and bio-surfactant（lowest）revealed an appreciable difference up to 36.5%. Furthermore, the wax from the treated sample was found to deposit in a thin gel-like form, which adhered inadequately to the surface of the cold finger. A further investigation by blending the 400 ppm silane-based surfactant with a 400 ppm SiO2 nanoparticle suspension in a load ratio of 3：1 found that the wax inhibition decreased up to 81% as compared to the scenario when they were not added. However, we have shown that the synergy between the silane-based surfactant and the nanoparticles is influenced by the concentration and load ratio of surfactant and nanoparticles, residence time, differential temperature and rotation rate.展开更多
文摘This work is a thermo-fluid numerical case study to investigate the size and performance of a system that eliminates needs for insulating, heating and inhibiting chemically the deposition of wax in subsea tie-in flowlines. For short, we call this type of systems “Cold Flow”. The particular system analyzed in this study consists of a reactor unit at the inlet to the flowline, where the thermal solubility of the wax-creating molecules is reduced by cooling. Subsequently, solid wax is deposited in the reactor piping and wax free crude is entering the flowline. The reactor is regenerated periodically. The reactor-pipeline system was modelled using a commercial flowline simulator, with transient, thermal, multiphase and deposition capabilities. The basic layout used was a transportation pipeline of 8 km and 6.69 in ID with a mass flow rate of 17.51 kg/s, a water cut (WC) of zero and an inlet temperature of 70°C. The wax appearance temperature (cloud point) of the crude is 22°C and the seabed temperature is 4°C. Three types of reactors have been simulated: a non-insulated pipe section, a passive cooler with a bundle of parallel pipes and an active cooler. Sensitivity analyses have been performed for all three cases varying the external convective coefficient, the reactor pipeline diameter and the WC. For a non-insulated pipeline section cooler, the required length is of the same order of magnitude as the main flowline, implying that such a solution is impractical for short flowline distances or when a compact deployment is desired. For the passive cooler case, the required length was half of that in the previous case;thus it is still significant. For the active cooler reactor, the required cooling duty was 2.2 MW. In all three cases, the pipe-flow dynamics were analyzed, and the pigging arrangement complexity has been qualitatively addressed. However, the detailed design falls out of the scope of this study.
基金UCSI Universitythe Universiti Malaysia Pahang for their continuous support
文摘The present study investigated the wax deposition tendencies of a light Malaysian crude oil（42.4° API）, and the wax inhibiting potential of some surfactants and their blends with nanoparticles. With the knowledge that the majority of the wax inhibition research revolved around polymeric wax inhibitors, which cause environmental issues, we highlighted the potential of surfactants and their blend with SiO2 nanoparticles as wax deposition inhibitors. Different surfactants including oil-based, silane-based, Gemini and bio-surfactants were considered as primary surfactants. The primary surfactants and their respective blends at a concentration of 400 ppm were screened as wax inhibitor candidates using cold finger apparatus. The screening results showed a significant influence on the paraffin inhibition efficiency on wax deposition by using 400 ppm of silane-based surfactant, which decreased the wax deposition up to 53.9% as compared to that of the untreated crude oil. The inhibition efficiency among the silane-based surfactant（highest） and bio-surfactant（lowest）revealed an appreciable difference up to 36.5%. Furthermore, the wax from the treated sample was found to deposit in a thin gel-like form, which adhered inadequately to the surface of the cold finger. A further investigation by blending the 400 ppm silane-based surfactant with a 400 ppm SiO2 nanoparticle suspension in a load ratio of 3：1 found that the wax inhibition decreased up to 81% as compared to the scenario when they were not added. However, we have shown that the synergy between the silane-based surfactant and the nanoparticles is influenced by the concentration and load ratio of surfactant and nanoparticles, residence time, differential temperature and rotation rate.
