Heavy crude oil viscosity reduction and rheology for pipeline transportation

Heavy crude oil viscosity reduction and rheology for pipeline transportation

Alcohol

Heavy crude oil

Oil/water emulsion

Viscosity reduction

Yield stress

Different methods of reducing the viscosity of heavy crude oil to enhance the flow properties were investigated. Experimental measurements were conducted using RheoStress RS100 from Haake. Several factors such as shear rate, temperature and light oil concentration on the viscosity behavior have been studied. This study shows that the blending of the heavy crude oil with a limited amount of lighter crude oil provided better performance than the other alternatives. Experimental measurements in terms of shear stress τ–shear rate γ˙, and yield stress τ0 were conducted on the mixture of heavy crude oil–light crude oil (O-light). The results showed a significant viscosity reduction of 375mPas at a room temperature of 25°C. This study shows that the heavy crude oil required a yield stress of 0.7Pa, whereas no yield stress was reported for the heavy crude oil–light crude oil mixture.

5

89

Fuel

2010-05-01

Hasan, Shadi W.

Ghannam, Mamdouh T.

Esmail, Nabil

Journal Article

W4CYZA2F

0016-2361

10.1016/j.fuel.2009.12.021