THERMAL SHRINKAGE AND GAS VOIDS FORMATION OF WAXY CRUDE OIL

During the case of emergency or maintenance shutdown, crude oil in the pipelines undergoes thermal shrinkage and thus, high start-up pressure is needed to restart the crude flow. Research on thermal shrinkage and gas voids formation will therefore be helpful in identifying and maybe reducing the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: SHAMUGAM, JAYKANESH
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10638/1/Dissertation%20Jaykanesh%20Shamugam%20%2812592%29.pdf
http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10638/
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Summary:During the case of emergency or maintenance shutdown, crude oil in the pipelines undergoes thermal shrinkage and thus, high start-up pressure is needed to restart the crude flow. Research on thermal shrinkage and gas voids formation will therefore be helpful in identifying and maybe reducing the start-up pressure. The objectives of this project are to investigate the effect of cooling rate, Pour Point Depressant (PPD) and aging process on the gas void’s volume, pressure and composition. The experiment was carried out by filling the crude oil inside a tube, heating it up and then cooling it. Few sets of experiments were carried out to analyze the effect of cooling rate, Pour Point Depressant (PPD) and aging process. The three parameters of the gas void; volume, pressure and composition were studied and recorded in the experiments. Based on the results, few conclusions were made. Firstly, the volume and pressure of the gas void increases with the cooling rate. Next, the presence of PPD in the crude oil slows down the thermal shrinkage and gas void formation process. Third, the aging process increases the volume and pressure of the gas void.