IMPROVEMENT OF SHARARA CRUDE OIL FLOW USING POLYSTYRENE AND POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE AS DRAG REDUCING AGENTS

Abstract

In this study the applicability of the Libyan crude oil flow induced by improved lab
pumping system was examined in order to evaluate the effect of adding polymeric materials of
Polystyrene and Polydimethylsiloxane as drag reducing agents (DRA) on the flow of Sharara
crude oil in the pipeline. The polymers are injected through a pumping system at different
concentrations rounded between (10-100) ppm. Several experiments were carried out to
determine the best concentration of polymer, which satisfied lowest drag force on of crude oil
flow rate. Furthermore, the effect of additive concentration on the Viscosity(μ), friction factor
(ƒ), percentage drag reduction (%DR) and the amount of flow increases (%FI) were determined.
The results show that the activities of Polydimethylsiloxane for Drag reduction is higher than
drag reduction for Polystyrene. However, the %DR is generally increased with increasing of
polymer concentration for all tested additives. It is progressively increased with increasing
Reynolds number (Re) at any specific concentration of the polymeric additives. The friction
factor is well correlated with Reynolds numbers and polymer concentration according to the
relation of the form ƒ= k ReaCb, the results showed good agreement between the observed values
and the predicted ones.