Flow Pattern Map of Malaysian Crude Oil and Water Two-Phase Flow in a Pipe System

Abstract:

Water produced along with the crude oil during production and transported together in a pipeline is a common occurrence in a petroleum production system. Understanding the behavior of crude oil-water flow in a pipe is crucial to engineering applications such as design and operation of flow lines and wells, and separation systems. Presently, there was no two phase flow study done on the Malaysian waxy crude oil-water. Therefore, a research work was conducted at the Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation Institute for Oil and Gas, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to study the flow pattern of the Malaysian waxy crude oil-water flowing in a closed-loop system at the ambient condition through a 5.08 cm ID stainless steel horizontal pipeline. The research works comprised fluid characterization and flow pattern observation using a video camera camcorder. Five flow patterns have been identified, namely stratified wavy flow, stratified wavy with semi dispersed flow at interface and oil film, dispersion of water in oil and oil continuous with emulsion, dispersion of oil in water with water continuous, and the newly found semi dispersed flow with semi emulsion at interface and thin oil film. The experimental results could be used as a platform to understand better a more complex case of gas, oil, and water flow in a pipeline, which is of utmost importance in designing optimum surface facilities.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 931-932)
• Pages: 1243-1247
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.931-932.1243
• Online since: May 2014
• Authors: Issham Ismail*, Shahir Misnan, Ahmad Shamsul Izwan Ismail, Rahmat Mohsin
• Keywords: Crude Oil, Flow Pattern, Oil Viscosity, Oil-Water Flow, Two-Phase Flow, Water Flow

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