Effect of drag reducing polymers on surfactant-stabilized water-oil emulsions flow

M. Al-Yaari; A. Al-Sarkhi; I. A. Hussein; B. Abu Sharkh

doi:10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015

Effect of drag reducing polymers on surfactant-stabilized water-oil emulsions flow

M. Al-Yaari, A. Al-Sarkhi^*, I. A. Hussein, B. Abu Sharkh

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of drag reducing polymers (DRP) on the flow characteristics of surfactant stabilized water-oil emulsions was investigated. Oil soluble polymers as well as water soluble polymers were tested as drag reducing agents for stable and unstable water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. Pressure drop measurements were conducted in 2.54-cm and 1.27-cm horizontal pipes. The influence of DRP type, concentration and molecular weights on emulsion stability, viscosity and pressure drop were reported.The results showed a significant increase in the emulsion stability with adding the proper DRP and this effect was enhanced as DRP molecular weight increased at ambient temperature. In addition, emulsion stability as well as DRP effect on emulsion stability was reduced as temperature increased. Injecting the right DRP (which is soluble in emulsion external phase) resulted in a pressure drop reduction for all tested stable emulsion types (concentrated water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) and W/O) and this effect increased as DRP concentration increased. However, injecting DRP which is soluble in the internal (dispersed) phase showed a drag reduction effect for unstable emulsion but with less extent. Moreover, injecting all types of DRP for emulsion flow with the same turbulence intensity (same Re) showed almost no dependency on the pipe diameter.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	319-331
Number of pages	13
Journal	Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science
Volume	51
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015
State	Published - Nov 2013

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for funding this work through Project No. 09-OIL 788-04 ., The technical support provided by Schlumberger Dhahran center for Carbonate Research (SDCR), Saudi Arabia, is highly appreciated with special thanks to Dr. M. Abbad and F. Chang.

Keywords

Drag reduction
Emulsion
Multiphase flow
Oil-in-water
Polymers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemical Engineering
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

Access to Document

10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015

Cite this

@article{4ee663a7a4cb4268a3d8991f23a46b61,

title = "Effect of drag reducing polymers on surfactant-stabilized water-oil emulsions flow",

abstract = "In this paper, the effect of drag reducing polymers (DRP) on the flow characteristics of surfactant stabilized water-oil emulsions was investigated. Oil soluble polymers as well as water soluble polymers were tested as drag reducing agents for stable and unstable water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. Pressure drop measurements were conducted in 2.54-cm and 1.27-cm horizontal pipes. The influence of DRP type, concentration and molecular weights on emulsion stability, viscosity and pressure drop were reported.The results showed a significant increase in the emulsion stability with adding the proper DRP and this effect was enhanced as DRP molecular weight increased at ambient temperature. In addition, emulsion stability as well as DRP effect on emulsion stability was reduced as temperature increased. Injecting the right DRP (which is soluble in emulsion external phase) resulted in a pressure drop reduction for all tested stable emulsion types (concentrated water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) and W/O) and this effect increased as DRP concentration increased. However, injecting DRP which is soluble in the internal (dispersed) phase showed a drag reduction effect for unstable emulsion but with less extent. Moreover, injecting all types of DRP for emulsion flow with the same turbulence intensity (same Re) showed almost no dependency on the pipe diameter.",

keywords = "Drag reduction, Emulsion, Multiphase flow, Oil-in-water, Polymers",

author = "M. Al-Yaari and A. Al-Sarkhi and Hussein, \{I. A.\} and \{Abu Sharkh\}, B.",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for funding this work through Project No. 09-OIL 788-04 ., The technical support provided by Schlumberger Dhahran center for Carbonate Research (SDCR), Saudi Arabia, is highly appreciated with special thanks to Dr. M. Abbad and F. Chang. ",

year = "2013",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015",

language = "English",

volume = "51",

pages = "319--331",

journal = "Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science",

issn = "0894-1777",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of drag reducing polymers on surfactant-stabilized water-oil emulsions flow

AU - Al-Yaari, M.

AU - Al-Sarkhi, A.

AU - Hussein, I. A.

AU - Abu Sharkh, B.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for funding this work through Project No. 09-OIL 788-04 ., The technical support provided by Schlumberger Dhahran center for Carbonate Research (SDCR), Saudi Arabia, is highly appreciated with special thanks to Dr. M. Abbad and F. Chang.

PY - 2013/11

Y1 - 2013/11

N2 - In this paper, the effect of drag reducing polymers (DRP) on the flow characteristics of surfactant stabilized water-oil emulsions was investigated. Oil soluble polymers as well as water soluble polymers were tested as drag reducing agents for stable and unstable water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. Pressure drop measurements were conducted in 2.54-cm and 1.27-cm horizontal pipes. The influence of DRP type, concentration and molecular weights on emulsion stability, viscosity and pressure drop were reported.The results showed a significant increase in the emulsion stability with adding the proper DRP and this effect was enhanced as DRP molecular weight increased at ambient temperature. In addition, emulsion stability as well as DRP effect on emulsion stability was reduced as temperature increased. Injecting the right DRP (which is soluble in emulsion external phase) resulted in a pressure drop reduction for all tested stable emulsion types (concentrated water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) and W/O) and this effect increased as DRP concentration increased. However, injecting DRP which is soluble in the internal (dispersed) phase showed a drag reduction effect for unstable emulsion but with less extent. Moreover, injecting all types of DRP for emulsion flow with the same turbulence intensity (same Re) showed almost no dependency on the pipe diameter.

AB - In this paper, the effect of drag reducing polymers (DRP) on the flow characteristics of surfactant stabilized water-oil emulsions was investigated. Oil soluble polymers as well as water soluble polymers were tested as drag reducing agents for stable and unstable water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. Pressure drop measurements were conducted in 2.54-cm and 1.27-cm horizontal pipes. The influence of DRP type, concentration and molecular weights on emulsion stability, viscosity and pressure drop were reported.The results showed a significant increase in the emulsion stability with adding the proper DRP and this effect was enhanced as DRP molecular weight increased at ambient temperature. In addition, emulsion stability as well as DRP effect on emulsion stability was reduced as temperature increased. Injecting the right DRP (which is soluble in emulsion external phase) resulted in a pressure drop reduction for all tested stable emulsion types (concentrated water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) and W/O) and this effect increased as DRP concentration increased. However, injecting DRP which is soluble in the internal (dispersed) phase showed a drag reduction effect for unstable emulsion but with less extent. Moreover, injecting all types of DRP for emulsion flow with the same turbulence intensity (same Re) showed almost no dependency on the pipe diameter.

KW - Drag reduction

KW - Emulsion

KW - Multiphase flow

KW - Oil-in-water

KW - Polymers

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84884704876

U2 - 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015

DO - 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2013.08.015

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84884704876

SN - 0894-1777

VL - 51

SP - 319

EP - 331

JO - Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

JF - Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

ER -

Effect of drag reducing polymers on surfactant-stabilized water-oil emulsions flow

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this