Pressure drop measurements of oil(D130)-water flow in 6-inch vertical stainless steel annulus pipe

Oil water two phase flows widely occur in chemical an petrochemical industries. The production of oil is associated with huge costs of transportation. Oil and water are produced and transported together in pipelines that have various degrees of inclination from the horizontal. The pressure drop of oil-water flow in inclined pipes is still subject of research. The present work has investigated the effect of inclination on pressure drop of oil (D130)-water two-phase flow in an inclinable 6 inch diameter stainless steel annulus pipe at different flow conditions. The working fluids used for experimental work are Exxsol mineral oil (D130) and potable water. Two-phase large scale inclinable flow loop was used to acquire data for different water cuts and fluid mixture flow rates. The range of liquid flow rates were selected to match the actual flow rates in real oil wells to reflect practical situations. Experiments were carried out for 90° inclination angle (with loop in vertical position). The oil-water flow rates were varied from 2000 to 12000 barrels-per-day (BPD) in steps of 2000. The water cuts (WC) were varied from 0-100% in steps of 20%. The effect of angle has found to be appreciable. For a given flow rate 8000 BPD, WC = 40%, for increase in angle from 0 to 90°, percentage increase in frictional pressure drop is about 26%. The findings of the study will be helpful in handling problems related to transportation of oil through inclined pipelines.