Multiphase Transport in Solid-Liquid and Solid-Gas Flows with Subsea Applications

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This research program investigates the thermodynamics and heat transfer of multiphase flows, particularly involving particles and crystals in solid-liquid and solid-gas flows. The primary application area is highly-viscous oil-dominated wellstreams in offshore oil and gas applications, particularly subsea operations. The research will develop new analytical techniques and physiochemical data measurements that enable more accurate prediction and measurement of specific processes of multiphase flows with highly-viscous oil-dominated wellstreams. Several major offshore oil and gas production fields, and new fields recently discovered, provide a significant opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador. Highly-viscous multiphase flow research is an important field to fully utilize and safely extract these reserves. Offshore oil and gas production and transportation rely heavily on multiphase flow processes. Wellstreams must be extracted from complex reservoirs, consisting of several phases, which are chemically reactive and must be processed in harsh offshore conditions or transported over long distances to onshore processing facilities. New experiments will be conducted and semi-analytical solutions will be developed to improve the knowledge of highly-viscous oil-dominated wellstreams, particularly for subsea applications with a focus on arctic and subarctic conditions. The predictive techniques will be developed for better cost analysis and improved design methodologies to effectively transport un-processed and semi-processed wellstreams. This will provide useful new insight into more efficient and safer tieback systems, thereby widening the reach of a single platform. **Improved understanding of the physiochemical characteristics of highly-viscous oil-dominated wellstreams will enable a significant portion of the processing equipment to be moved onshore, which significantly reduces infrastructure and operational costs. Partial-processing of the wellstream will be required on the seafloor, particularly, bulk water/gas removal can significantly reduce the required pumping power by limiting the transport of unnecessary fluids, thus reducing oversized equipment and helping prevent hydrate formation. More complete knowledge of the physiochemical characteristics of immersed particles, phase separation, water/gas removal and other multiphase transport processes can significantly benefit offshore oil and gas production. This research will provide new theoretical insight and experimental data for more effective transport and subsea processing of highly-viscous oil-dominated wellstreams, for more cost effective, safe, reliable and environmentally benign methods of offshore oil recovery. The results of the research will also have useful applications in other multiphase flow technologies, i.e., solid-gas flows in fluidized beds, solid-liquid flows in thermochemical cycles, and slurry transport, among others.