Effect of oil viscosity on the flow structure and pressure gradient in horizontal oil–water flow

The flow patterns and pressure gradient of immiscible liquids are still subject of immense research interest. This is partly because fluids with different properties exhibit different flow behaviours in different pipe's configurations under different operating conditions. In this study, a combination of oil–water properties (σ = 20.1 mN/m) not previously reported was used in a 25.4 mm acrylic pipe. Experimental data of flow patterns, pressure gradient and phase inversion in horizontal oil–water flow are presented and analyzed together with comprehensive comments. The effect of oil viscosity on flow structure was assessed by comparing the present work data with those of Angeli and Hewitt (2000) and Raj et al. (2005). The comparison revealed several important findings. For example, the water velocity required to initiate the transition to non-stratified flow at low oil velocities increased as the oil viscosity increased while it decreased at higher oil velocities. The formation of bubbly and annular flows and the extent of dual continuous region were found to increase as the oil–water viscosity ratio increased. Dispersed oil in water appeared earlier when oil viscosity decreased.     

Prediction of curved oil–water interface in horizontal pipes using modified model with dynamic contact angle

In this study, interface shapes of horizontal oil–water two-phase flow are predicted by using Young-Laplace equation model and minimum energy model. Meanwhile, the interface shapes of horizontal oil–water twophase flow in a 20 mm inner diameter pipe are measured by a novel conductance parallel-wire array probe(CPAP). It is found that, for flow conditions with low water holdup, there is a large deviation between the model-predicted interface shape and the experimentally measured one. Since the variation of pipe wetting characteristics in the process of fluid flow can lead to the changes of the contact angle between the fluid and the pipe wall, the models mentioned above are modified by considering dynamic contact angle. The results indicate that the interface shapes predicted by the modified models present a good consistence with the ones measured by CPAP.     

Characteristics of flow fields in the gas–liquid mini-bubble columns with particle image velocimetry measurements

As a new type of gas–liquid microreactors, the gas–liquid mini-bubble column has potential applications. However, few studies on the flow fields in the mini-bubble column can be found at present. In this work, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to visually study the velocity fields, vorticity fields and bubble dynamics in the gas–liquid mini-bubble columns with column inner diameters of 1–3 mm and mini-bubble diameters ranged from 0.7 to 1.3 mm. It is found that with the increase of superficial liquid velocity, bubbles rose from almost straight line to Z-shaped or S-shaped trajectory, and the bubble trajectory changed from one-dimension to three-dimension; when the bubble velocity changed, the bubble size and gas holdup decreased; bubble terminal velocity was controlled by bubble buoyancy and flow resistance, and increased slightly with bubble coalescence. These findings may provide basic reference for the design and scale-up of such a mini-bubble column reactor.     

Experimental and numerical study of stratified viscous oil–water flow

Stratified two-phase flows of oil and water are important to the energy industry, and models capable of predicting this type of flow are primordial. Many studies focus on fluids with low viscosity, but a high viscosity oil in the mixture significantly changes its behavior. We gathered experimental data of pressure drop, volumetric fractions, and flow-pattern data of a stratified liquid–liquid flow with high viscosity ratio. In addition, a wire-mesh sensor provided tomographic views of the flow. The data were compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models using OpenFOAM and a one-dimensional model. CFD simulations used an interface capturing method, and turbulence damping was introduced to avoid high eddy viscosity at the interface region. Reynolds Average Navier–Stokes and large eddy simulations were used to account for turbulence, and they showed significant differences. The comparisons showed good overall results for pressure drop, volumetric fractions, and phase distributions between CFD and experiments.     

An experimental study of drag reduction by nanofluids in slug two-phase flow of air and water through horizontal pipes☆

This study investigates the effect of injecting nanofluids containing nano-SiO2 as drag reducing agents (DRA) at different concentrations on the pressure drop of air–water flow through horizontal pipe....     

Flow patterns and gas fractions of air–oil and air–water flow in pipe bends

An experimental study of two-phase flow in a 180° pipe bends with 0.016, 0.022 and 0.03 m and the curvature radii of 0.11, 0.154, 0.21 m, respectively have been carried out. The experiments were conducted under the input superficial phase velocity: air from 0.038 to 5.4 m s⁻¹, water from 0.018 to 0.92 m s⁻¹ and oil from 0.014 to 0.92 m s⁻¹. The conducted research involved the observation of the forming flow patterns and determination of average volumetric in situ gas fraction. On the basis of the results of experimental flow map was created for gas–liquid flow and a method of calculating gas fractions was established.     

Comparative study of gas–oil and gas–water two-phase flow in a vertical pipe

A wire-mesh sensor has been employed to study air/water and air/silicone oil two-phase flow in a vertical pipe of 67 mm diameter and 6 m length. The sensor was operated with a conductivity-measuring electronics for air/water flow and a permittivity-measuring one for air/silicone oil flow. The experimental setup enabled a direct comparison of both two-phase flow types for the given pipe geometry and volumetric flow rates of the flow constituents. The data have been interrogated at a number of levels. The time series of cross-sectionally averaged void fraction was used to determine characteristics in amplitude and frequency space. In a more three-dimensional examination, radial gas volume fraction profiles and bubble size distributions were processed from the wire-mesh sensor data and compared for both flow types. Information from time series and bubble size distribution data was used to identify flow patterns for each of the flow rates studied.     

Hydrate formation in oil–water systems: Investigations of the influences of water cut and anti-agglomerant

To investigate the characteristics of hydrate formation in oil–water systems, a high-pressure cell equipped with visual windows was used where a series of hydrate formation experiments were performed from natural gas + diesel oil + water systems at different water cuts and anti-agglomerant concentrations. According to the temperature and pressure profiles in test experiments, the processes of hydrate formation under two kinds of experimental procedures were analyzed first. Then, based on the experimental phenomena observed through the visual windows, the influences of water cut and anti-agglomerant on the places of hydrate formation and distribution, hydrate morphologies and hydrate morphological evolvements were investigated. Hydrate agglomeration, hydrate deposition and hydrate film growth on the wall were observed in experiments. Furthermore, three different mechanisms for hydrate film growth on the wall were identified. In addition, the influences of water cut and anti-agglomerant on the induction time of hydrate formation were also studied.     

Experimental determination of the Hamaker constants for solid–water–oil systems

The van der Waals interaction (vdW) is a fundamental interaction in colloid and interface science. Regardless of the methods used in deriving the vdW interaction between two bodies as a function of their separation distance, the Hamaker constant is always an essential parameter involved. In this paper, a simple experimental method is presented to determine the Hamaker constant. As an example, the Hamaker constant of a solid-water-oil system is related to its surface and interfacial energies, which can be measured accurately. Based on the proposed method, the effects of two typical solid surfaces and three kinds of aqueous solutions on the Hamaker constant and wettability of the solid-water-oil system are studied. It is found that hydrophilic and hydrophobic solid surfaces will lead to rather different Hamaker constants and wettability behaviour. The detailed experimental results also show that the ionic surfactant solutions have a strong influence, whereas the pH value of the aqueous phase has a limited effect on the Hamaker constant. In addition, the electrolyte solutions do not strongly affect the Hamaker constant for the oil phase interacting with the solid surface across an electrolyte solution. Such determined Hamaker constants are in reasonable agreement with the reported Hamaker constants for oils (dodecane and hexadecane), mica, and metals (Ag, Au, and Cu) interacting across a pure water phase.     

Ignition of the drops of coal–water fuel in a flow of air

The ignition of the drops of coal–water fuel (CWF) in a high-temperature gas (air) flow was experimentally studied. The conditions and fundamental characteristics of the ignition (ignition delay times) were found. The effects of a number of factors (drop sizes and ambient temperatures) on the conditions of ignition were examined. Based on the results of experiments, a physical model was formulated for the processes of thermal preparation and ignition of CWF drops. The experimental delay times of the ignition of CWFs were compared with the theoretical values (obtained with the use of a previously developed mathematical model).     

Thermal hydraulic characteristics of air–water two-phase flows in helical pipes

Helically coiled heat exchangers, where one of the working fluids is flowing through helical coil, are used in various process industries due to better heat transfer characteristics and the resulting compact layout. Out of these, process requirements make some of the heat exchangers to operate in air–water two-phase region. Even though the characteristics of their operation with single-phase working fluids are well documented, it is not so for the case of two-phase flows. There do exist few experimental results on hydrodynamics of air–water flow through helical pipes. However numerical investigation, which can give much insight into the physics of the problem, is lacking and this is the subject matter of this paper.     

Enhancing oil–solid and oil–water separation in heavy oil recovery by CO2-responsive surfactants

Interfacial properties are of critical importance to various separation applications. In heavy oil recovery, for example, a low oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) benefits the separation of heavy oil from their host rocks, which becomes problematic in the later stage of oil–water separation. CO₂-responsive surfactants were investigated to enhance the overall heavy oil recovery by switching their interfacial activity to the desired state in each stage. The surfactants at interfacially active state greatly enhanced the separation of heavy oil from hosting solids, as demonstrated by measuring contact angle and oil liberation using a custom-designed on-line visualization system. Meanwhile, the resulting heavy oil-in-water emulsions could also be easily demulsified by the bubbling of CO₂ gas, which switched off the interfacial activity of the surfactants. Furthermore, CO₂-responsive surfactants could be partially recycled in process water to improve sustainability, making CO₂-responsive surfactants to be promising chemical aids in heavy oil production and many other vital industries.     

Emission control in the combustion of coal–water and organic coal–water fuels

Promising methods for decreasing anthropogenic emissions due to the combustion of coals of different ranks and coal–water fuel (CWF) and organic coal–water fuel (OCWF) slurries on their basis are considered. The maximum concentrations of the main anthropogenic emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon oxides (SO _x , NO _x , and CO _x ) formed upon the combustion of solid fuels in a powdered state and as the components of CWF and OCWF slurries were determined. The concentrations of the most hazardous oxides formed upon the combustion of coals of different ranks (brown and black coals) and CWF and OCWF slurries were compared. The experimental results substantiated the use of CWF and OCWF slurries for emission control in coal-burning power engineering. The addition of a combustible liquid component to a CWF slurry (the production of an OCWF slurry) makes it possible to ensure acceptable environmental and energy characteristics.     

Modernization of oil refineries as the basis for the development of the Russian oil refining industry in the period of 2010–2020

Ways of developing and modernizing Russian oil refineries are considered on the basis of an analysis of the presentations of Russian and foreign companies at the 10th Russian and CIS Refining Technology Conference (RRTC) held by Euro Petroleum Consultants in Moscow on September 23–24, 2010. It is shown that the main trends in the development of the Russian oil refining industry with the purpose of overcoming the current economic crisis are the rational use of production facilities, the modernization of existing plants to increase the depth of processing and the profitability of production, satisfying the growing demand for motor fuels (especially diesel) and improving their quality to meet the parameters of eurostandards, increasing the conversion of the processing of oil at oil refineries, reducing the consumption of energy, and improving the process control and optimization systems at existing plants to increase their efficiency and minimize the environmental risks in operating plants. The development of hydrogenation processes that allow the synthesis of high-quality products from cheap sour crude oil or the qualified preparation of raw materials for the process of catalytic cracking must now become the main direction of oil refining in Russia and CIS countries. Oil residue processing technologies (e.g., hydrogenation processes, catalytic cracking, new and improved catalysts for hydrocracking, catalytic cracking, hydrotreatment of heavy oil residues; and hydrogen synthesis technologies) are discussed.     

Mathematical modelling of a hydrocyclone for the down-hole oil–water separation (DOWS)

In this study, a mathematical model is developed to predict the efficiency of a down-hole oil–water separation hydrocyclone. In the proposed model, the separation efficiency is determined based on droplet trajectory of a single oil droplet through the continuous-phase. The droplet trajectory model is developed using a Lagrangian approach in which single droplets are traced in the continuous-phase. The droplet trajectory model uses the swirling flow of the continuous-phase to trace the oil droplets. By applying the droplet trajectory, a trial and error approach is used to determine the size of the oil droplet that reaches the reverse flow region, where they can be separated. The required input for the proposed model is hydrocyclone geometry, fluid properties, inlet droplet size distribution and operational conditions at the down hole. The model is capable of predicting the hydrocyclone hydrodynamic flow field, namely, the axial, tangential and radial velocity distributions of the continuous-phase. The model was then applied for some case studies from the field tested DOWS systems which exist in the literature. The results show that the proposed model can predict well the split ratio and separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone. Moreover, the results of the proposed model can be used as a preliminary evaluation for installing a down-hole oil–water separation hydrocyclone system in a producing well.     

Experimental study of a vane-type pipe separator for oil–water separation

An experimental study of a new vane-type pipe separator (VTPS) was conducted for the possible application in the well-bore for oil–water separation and reinjection. Results by using particle image velocimetry (PIV) reveal a better flow field distribution for oil–water separation, which is formed in VTPS than that in hydrocyclone. The effects of split ratio, the oil content, guide vanes’ installation and number of guide vanes on oil–water separation performance have been investigated experimentally. Compared to a traditional single hydrocyclone, VTPS shows a good separation performance as the water content at the inlet of VTPS reaches 79.9%, the oil content at the water-rich outlet is about 400 ppm while the split is near 0.70. These results are helpful to provide a possibly new design for downhole oil–water separation.     

Adiabatic flow distribution of gas and liquid in parallel pipes—Effect of additional restrictions

The distribution of gas and liquid among four parallel pipes was studied with and without orifice restrictions. The results show that the two phases may not be equally distributed among the pipes. It is shown that the two-phase flow mixture can “choose” to flow in one, two, three or in all four pipes depending on gas and liquid flow rates, on pipe inclination and on the orifice plate size. Addition of orifice plates expands the region of stability and the range of flow in all four pipes. The experimental results are in reasonable agreement with the analysis.     

Analysis of the flow pattern and periodicity of gas–liquid–liquid three-phase flow in a countercurrent mixer-settler

In contrast to the concurrent mixer-settler, the interaction between the mixing and settling chambers have to be taken into account in the simulation of the countercurrent mixer-settler, and no work has been reported for this equipment. In this work, a three-phase flow model based on the Eulerian multiphase model, coupled with a sliding mesh model is proposed for a countercurrent mixer-settler. Based on this, the dispersed phase distribution, flow pattern, and pressure distribution are investigated, which can help to fill the gap in the operation mechanism. In addition, the velocity vector distribution at the phase port shows an intriguing phenomenon that two types of vectors with opposite directions are distributed on the left and right sides of the same plane, which indicates that the material exchange in the mixing and settling chambers is simultaneous. Analysis of this variation at this location by a fast Fourier transform (FFT) method reveals that it is mainly influenced by the mixing chamber and is consistent with the main period of the outlet flow fluctuations. Therefore, by monitoring the fluctuation of the outlet flow and then analyzing it by the FFT method, the state of the whole tank can be determined, which makes it promising for the design of control systems for countercurrent mixer-settlers.