Flow Line,
Compressor,
Pipeline Capacity
Date: 2025/3/5
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FLOWLINEDEFINITIONOILANDGAS
Trunk and flow lines are pipes connecting the wells
with the treatment plants. Flow lines are the
connection from the well itself, to either a treatment
plant or a gathering station. The trunk lines are
usually the bigger lines. They carry often a lot of oil to
the final treatment.
Depending on the characteristic of the crude, the
problems faced in these lines are various, in detail:
• Waxing
• Corrosion
• Scaling / Fouling
• Sludge
• Viscosity
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Rarely do you have only one of these problems, but a combination of 2 or
3 of them at the same time. All these problems are discussed in detail on
a separate page.
There is another
group of lines; these are just called pipe lines. Here treated crude is
transported very often over long distances. These pipe lines are very big
lines and reach often diameters of 60 inches and more. Due to the fact the
oil which is transported through these is already purified not so much
problems arise, as seen in trunk or flow lines.
All these different types lines have in common, this is the corrosion from
outside. This type of corrosion, Merus is not able to influence or treat.
Either special paints or cathodic protection is used in order to control or
minimize the corrosion from outside.
In a big oilfield there are hundreds or thousands pipes needed, with a
total length of all over several 1000km. To service all these pipelines is a
big task. Which need very good planning and monitoring. The biggest
problems is leaking in such lines. If there is pitting and a small pin hole
occurs, there will constant oil come out and pollute either the ground or
the sea.
If only little amounts of the totel amount transported are leaking, it is
technically next to impossible to recognize there is a problem on such a
line.
So the only chance to find such small leaks is regular inspection, by driving
along the pipelines and check visual for spots of crude. Also sub sea lines
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are regular inspected by divers. All this effort is required, because of
corrosion and possible leaks caused by this corrosion.
In general, our approach is to reduce or completely
stop any kind of corrosion. Not only in water, but also in
Hydro Carbon applications. In several cases we were
able to prove this in practice. But for some types of
corrosion we have had no application in practice so far.
Sometimes it is also difficult to analyse the data or
there is a duty of confidentiality so that we cannot
inform you about it.
Nevertheless, in many cases and applications
worldwide we have been able to significantly reduce
the corrosion rate. In several cases, we have started
with a corrosion of over 10 mpy and brought it to a
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constant below 1 mpy. This means that with Merus
rings the corrosion is less than 10% of the initial value.
CORROSIONDUETOWATER
Crude oil often contains a high proportion of water, which causes
corrosion in pipes. Water is used to pressurize the oil reservoir using
special water injection wells. Produced water, i.e. water from the oil well,
is used. Seawater or brackish water, near the sea or at offshore locations.
Many of these waters even exacerbate the problems. There are
microorganisms or other corrosive components in the water. All of them
contribute to the problem.
With our technology, we are able to lower the „simple“ forms of corrosion
significantly or fully eliminate them. In industrial water treatment, we
successfully stop corrosion in many cases. In terms of hydrocarbon, we
can speak about several cases with reliable data.
CORROSIONDUETOH2S
As described above, from the theoretical point of view Merus should be
able to reduce or stop also the H2S Corrosion. Only we cannot provide
reliable data as there have not been enough cases to monitor.
CORROSIONDUETOCO2
CO2 corrosion one also can be found in water applications. There we
treated CO2 successful. Monitoring is a big issue, and we have to get the
right setup to proof our results.
CORROSIONDUETOSRB
SRB or „Sulfate Reduction Bacteria“ are anaerobic bacteria, which are able
to survive in crude oil. They are causing various problems in pipelines and
machines. These bacteria „eat“ the sulfate of the steel and produce H2S as
a metabolic product. They not only weaken the structure of the steel but
also increase the risk of destructive corrosion.
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Once there is pitting in the pipe, the bacteria settle in this environment and
even increase the problem. Here they live and reproduce undisturbed
spreading in the whole system.
How can the Merus Technology get rid of this problem? Reducing
corrosion or also deposits in the piping system reduces the habitat for any
bacteria. They are dependent on safe places like pitting holes or dead legs
in the system. Once the habitat is gone, the amount of bacteria diminishes
over time. As no constant flow is needed to transport the Merus
Oscillations, it works in every part of the tubing and machinery.
Microbially Induced Corrosion (MIC) is therefore reduced lastingly.
Conclusion
Every plant and every system around an oil and gas well is designed
individually. Also, the crude differs from place to place and having a „one
solution fits all“ product is difficult. We therefore always discuss individual
cases and give advice on how to treat each case.
To build up a fair business relationship we always start with a trial phase
in which we install our solution and monitor the effect. In the second
phase, the installation can be adjusted if necessary
Sludge pigging oil and gas pipeline
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Sludge“ is the generic term for all types of
sediments that can be found in a pipeline.
In an oil or gas pipeline this can be lime, corrosion, wax, tar, asphaltene,
sand or bacteria. Usually this sludge can be removed by pigging. The pig
is placed in the pipeline at the beginning of the line. The pig is pushed all
the way through the pipe by the oil or gas. The pig is designed to clean the
pipe walls as it travels through the pipe and remove all the dirt or
sediment at the end of the line.
The amount of sludge being pushed out of the pipe can on long and big
pipelines easy accumulate to several 100 kgs. This is, of course, dependant
on the frequency of pigging and the size of the pipe.
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Depend
ing on the composition of the hydro carbon, the sludge can also contain
toxic parts, such as H2S, Mercury. In this case, human contact with the
deposits must be avoided. Therefore special equipment and safety
clothing is needed. The pictures show safety precautions being taken,
when the sludge is manually removed from the receiver after the pigging.
The toxic sludge has to be taken special care of. The sludge has to be
burned in special locations, to ensure nobody is harmed. To do the final
deposition is also very costly.
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Reduce sludge with the Merus Technology
One of the fundamental effects of the Merus Technology is, the solubility
of all soluble
parts in a liquid is increased. In the graph is shown a case where the
benefits can be seen easily.
Some major ingredients in the crude oil such as paraffin wax or the
limescale keep solved. And they keep flowing with the crude and will not
settle in the pipe. If the inner surface of the pipe is smooth, no other
material can stick to it and form deposits.
In the graph, can be seen, Merus reduce scale, paraffin wax and sand.
Sand of course is not soluble in a liquid. But if there is no wax, the sand
has no hold on the pipe wall and go with the liquid down stream.
In some projects we were able to reduce the amount of sludge by almost
90%.
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Limescale in Wells, Pipes and
Machines
Incrustations which sediment from the liquid in the pipe and machine are
often limescale. In terms of water treatment, we are specialists for solving
this issue with our Merus Group. Find out more on www.
merusonline.com. So this text focuses on limescale in the context of
hydrocarbons.
The lime origins either from the crude itself or the water which is part of
the crude. Over time the limescale builds up at the inner surface of the
pipe and thus slowly decreases the cross-section of the pipe. Without
counteractive measures, the pipe will be blocked completely sooner or
later.
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CHE MIC AL SO LUTIO NS
In some cases, it is expedient to add chemicals to the crude to reduce the
depositing. This depends on the type of lime. There are two side effects
resulting from adding chemicals. First of all, they have to be removed from
the crude downstream. This is an additional process step involving costs
and also effort.
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Second, the chemicals themselves are costly including dosing equipment,
transportation and also storage of the chemicals on site. They slow down
the forming of incrustations but can’t fully avoid the issue. When the pipe
is blocked mechanical or additional chemical cleaning is needed.
Viscosity of Crude Oil
Viscosity is the term used to describe how difficult it is for a fluid to flow.
The viscosity is measured in centipoise or abbreviated cP. cP goes back
the French physican Poiseuille, who made studies about the flow of blood.
Water has at 20°C a viscostiy of 1 cP. This vicosity gets less with increasing
temperatur. At 25°C water has only 0.89 cp.
How viscosity works is difficult to understand. So we talk about honey at
this place,
In general, the viscosity increases, if the temperature is lower. Honey at
20°C is thicker and less flowable than honey at a temperature of 50°C.
This can be tested, if you have honey which is not flowing anymore, put in
hot water and it will flow again.
Mathematical Equations for Flow Line Capacity
A) Hagen-Poiseuille Equation for Laminar Flow
For laminar flow (Re < 2000), the flow rate is given by:
Where:
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• Q = Flow rate (m³/s)
• Delta P = Pressure drop across the pipe (Pa)
• D = Pipe diameter (m)
• mu = Dynamic viscosity (Pa.s)
• L = Pipe length (m)
B) Darcy-Weisbach Equation for Turbulent Flow
For turbulent flow (Re > 4000), the pressure drop is calculated using:
Where:
• f = Friction factor (calculated from the Colebrook equation)
• p = Fluid or gas density (kg/m³)
• v = Average flow velocity (m/s)
C) Hazen-Williams Equation for Fluid Flow in Pipes
This equation is commonly used for low-viscosity liquids:
Where:
• C = Hazen-Williams coefficient (depends on pipe material)
• S = Pressure loss per unit length
4. Applications and Case Studies
• Pipeline Capacity Calculation for Offshore Oil Transport: Used to determine the
optimal diameter for offshore crude oil pipelines.
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• Natural Gas Flow Through Pipelines: Computed using the Darcy-Weisbach
equation with compressibility corrections.
5. Graphs and Diagrams
1. Graph showing the relationship between pipe diameter and flow rate
2. Chart illustrating the effect of viscosity on flow rate
3. Graph depicting the variation of friction factor with Reynolds number
This graph shows the relationship between the diameter of the tube and the flow
rate using the Hazel-Williams equation. It can be seen that increased diameters are
significantly increased in flow rate, highlighting the importance of choosing the right
diameter to reduce pressure loss and improve transportation efficiency in pipelines
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This graph shows the effect of the viscosity on the flow rate, as it can be seen that
increased viscosity leads to a decrease in the flow rate due to the increased fluid
.resistance to the movement within the tube
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This graph shows the relationship between Reynolds' number and the coefficient of friction.
It can be seen that as Reynolds' number increases, the friction coefficient decreases,
indicating that the flow becomes more efficient as the speed or viscosity decreases.
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