Drag-reducing agents for hydrocarbon pipelines

加拿大拥有庞大的管道网络，这些管道是向当地和海外市场运输原油和成品油不可或缺的一部分。长距离输送液态碳氢化合物需要相当大的电力，这对管道的潜在日吞吐量和能源效率产生了不利影响。为了降低泵送功率和增加管道输量，油溶聚合物--通常被称为减阻剂(DRA)--经常被管道运营商采用。当注入并与管道内的液态碳氢化合物混合时，DRAS可以导致阻力减少20%至50%，这意味着泵消耗的能量更少。不幸的是，预测这些DRA的减阻能力往往是具有挑战性的。我们与Enbridge的合作将开发一种更好地预测碳氢化合物液体与聚合物DRAS的摩擦阻力的方法。该方法将使管道操作员能够为管道中给定批次的碳氢化合物选择最有效的DRA及其最佳剂量。这个项目的影响将是更大程度地减少水泵的电力消耗，并更有效地将石油产品输送到当地和国际市场。我们预测DRAS有效性的程序将通过三步法实现。首先，我们将发现和表征几种碳氢化合物-DRA溶液的材料性质，并在实验室规模的管路中测量它们的摩阻。其次，我们将确定与管道流动的摩阻最相关的流体特性。第三，将推导出一个模型方程，该方程将流体的材料属性与摩擦阻力测量结果联系起来。该方程需要一个简单的流变学测量，以提供对烃-DRA组合的摩擦阻力的准确估计。拟议的研究计划将提供为碳氢化合物管道选择DRA所需的知识和专业知识。加拿大的石油工业将从这一计划的成果中受益，提高他们的管道效率，减少他们的环境排放。

Canada has a vast network of pipelines that are integral for the transportation of crude oil and refined petroleum products to local and oversea markets. Pumping liquid hydrocarbons over long distance demands a considerable amount of electricity that adversely effects the potential daily throughput and energy efficiency of the pipelines. To reduce the pumping power and increase the pipelines throughput, oil-soluble polymers - commonly called drag-reducing agents (DRAs) - have often been employed by pipelines operators. When injected and mixed with the liquid hydrocarbon within the pipeline, the DRAs can induce a 20 to 50% reduction in drag, which translates to less energy consumed by the pumps. Unfortunately, predicting the drag-reducing capabilities of these DRAs has often been challenging. Our partnership with Enbridge will develop a procedure for better predicting the friction drag of hydrocarbon liquids with polymeric DRAs. The derived method will enable pipeline operators to select the most effective DRA and its optimum dosage for the given batch of hydrocarbon in the pipeline. The implications of this project will be a greater reduction in electricity consumed by the pumps and a more efficient delivery of oil products to local and international markets.Our procedure for predicting the efficacy of DRAs will be achieved using a three step approach. First, we will discover and characterize the material properties of several hydrocarbon-DRA solutions and measure their friction drag in a laboratory-scale pipe loop. Second, we will identify the fluid property that correlates best with the friction drag of the pipe flow. Third, a model equation will be derived that relates the material properties of the fluid with the friction drag measurements. The equation will require a simple rheological measurement to provide an accurate estimation of the frictional drag of a hydrocarbon-DRA combination. The proposed research program will provide the knowledge and expertise required to select DRAs for hydrocarbon pipelines. The petroleum industry in Canada will benefit from the achievements of this program by increasing the efficiency of their pipelines and reducing their environmental emissions.