Scale-up, design and optimization of industrial multiphase processes

在加拿大的重油和油砂工业中，几乎每个过程都涉及多相混合（气体、液体和固体颗粒的组合）。这些材料混合和运输的具体方式对整个过程的性能至关重要。例如，如果管道中的强烈混合产生小而稳定的水滴，则会对下游分离过程的性能产生负面影响。此外，性能差的根本原因可能归咎于分离船的设计或操作条件，即问题的真正根源可能无法确定。评估这些问题并试图优化性能的一个主要挑战是，这些过程发生在令人难以置信的大规模上：管道每小时运输数百万公斤的材料，容器的直径可以达到10米（或更大）。不可能看到——而且几乎不可能测量——这些过程单元中实际发生了什么。因此，研究人员经常试图在实验室中复制这些过程，那里的条件可以得到更严格的控制，测量也不那么困难。为了使实验室规模的过程反映全面操作的行为，需要仔细考虑真正控制性能的机制：例如，前面提到的那些小液滴的存在是因为发生了强烈的混合，还是因为在它们表面聚集的一层分子阻止了它们的生长？因此，拟议研究计划的主要目标是发展科学基础、方法和仪器，以连接实验室和现实世界规模的操作，用于广泛的多相过程。该计划将提供优化现有工艺或开发新技术所需的工具（如沥青的部分升级或消除尾矿库）。在加拿大的石油行业，该研究项目将引导设计更安全的管道，减少温室气体排放和水的使用，并生产增值碳氢化合物产品。研究结果也将适用于石油和天然气行业以外的行业，包括采矿业、制造业和制药业。

In Canada's heavy oil and oil sands industries, nearly every process involves multiphase mixtures (combinations of gas, liquids and solid particles). The specific ways that these materials are mixed together and transported are critical to the overall process performance. For example, if intense mixing in a pipeline produces small stable water droplets, the performance of a downstream separation process will be negatively impacted. Furthermore, the root cause of the poor performance may be assigned to the design or operating conditions of the separation vessel, i.e. the real source of the problem may not be identified. A major challenge in evaluating such issues and in attempting to optimize performance is that these processes occur at incredibly large scales: pipelines transport millions of kilograms of material per hour, and vessels can be 10 meters (or more) in diameter. It is impossible to see - and nearly as impossible to measure - what is actually happening in these process units. As a result, researchers often try to replicate these processes in the laboratory where conditions can be more rigorously controlled and measurements are less difficult to make. For the lab-scale process to reflect the behavior of the full-scale operation, careful consideration of the mechanisms that truly govern performance is required: for example, do those small droplets mentioned earlier exist because of the intense mixing that occurred or because a layer of molecules that collected on their surfaces prevented them from growing? The main objective of the proposed research program, then, is to develop the scientific fundamentals, methods and instruments needed to connect the lab- and real world-scale operation for a wide range of multiphase processes. The program will provide the tools needed to optimize existing processes or develop new technology (such as partial upgrading of bitumen or the elimination of tailings ponds). In Canada's oil industry, this research program will lead to the design of safer pipelines, reduced GHG emissions and water usage, and the production of value-added hydrocarbon products. The outcomes will also be applicable to industries beyond the oil and gas sector, including mining, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.