D. A.

Storm Drag Reduction in Heavy Oil

R. J. McKeon Transporting heavy crude oil by pipeline requires special facilities because the viscosity
is so high at normal field temperatures. In some cases the oil is heated with special heaters
along the way, while in others the oil may be diluted by as much as 30 percent with
H. L. McKinzie kerosene. Commercial drag reducers have not been found to be effective because the
single-phase flow is usually laminar to only slightly turbulent. In this work we show the
effective viscosity of heavy oils in pipeline flow can be reduced by a factor of 3-4. It is
C. L Redus hypothesized that a liquid crystal microstructure can be formed so that thick oil layers slip
on thin water layers in the stress fleld generated by pipeline flow. Experiments in a 1 {-in.
Texaco Inc., flow loop with Kern River crude oil and a Venezuela crude oil BCF13 are comi.<ilent with
Exploration & Production Department, this hypothecs. The effect has also been demonstrated under field conditions in a 6-in.
3901 Briarpark, flow loop using a mixture of North Sea and Mississippi heavy crude oils containing 10
Houston, TX 77042-5301 percent brine.

Introduction it is difficult to restart the core annular flow after an emergency

Crude oils are usually transported from the producing field to a
market by pipeline. Heavy crude oils with an API gravity less than
15° require special facilities. Their viscosities are too high to pump
at ambient temperatures. For example, the viscosity of Kern River
crude oil is 9-10 Pa.s at room temperature, while 0.1 Pa.s is a
desired pipeline viscosity. It is being transported from the field in
Bakersfleld, California to the San Francisco market in a heated
pipeline. Special heaters are used along the way to maintain the
temperature in the range of 130-160°F. Nevertheless, the pressure
drop is still approximately 1000 psi over 40 mi.
A more extreme case is crude oil from the Hamaca region in
Venezuela. It has a viscosity of approximately 400 Pa.s at room
temperature. It must be moved approximately 100 mi from the
Hamaca field to the Jose upgrader on the coast. One plan is to
dilute it by 30 percent with kerosene.
Not only are there extra capital costs for heaters, extra pumps,
and larger-diameter pipelines when producing heavy crude oils,
but operating costs are obviously higher. In the case of Hamaca,
the cutter will be separated from the oil at the upgrader, and
returned to the field in a second pipeline. These higher costs are a
significant consideration when new developments of heavy oil
resources are being contemplated.
Commercial drag reducers have been used successfully to re-
duce pumping costs in the Trans Alaska Pipeline (Burger et al.,
1980). However, these drag reducers are not effective in heavy oil
pipelines. Drag reducers are thought to dampen turbulent fluctua-
tions in the near wall region (Achia and Thompson, 1977), and
since the flow in heavy oil pipelines is laminar, or only slightly
turbulent, at the fluid velocities that can be obtained practically, the
drag-reducing chemicals would not be expected to be effective.
Nevertheless, the possibility of being able to reduce operating
costs, or increase throughput on demand, by adding a chemical is
an extremely attractive option.
Another solution is to create a lubricated flow in which water
flows next to the pipe wall, while oil flows in the core annular
space. The fundamentals and applications of two-phase lubricated
flows have been discussed by Joseph and Renardy (1992). Com-
mercial and developmental experience has been summarized by
Amey et al. (1996). Apparently, there are two unresolved problems
for commercial applications. First, heavy components in the oil
tend to foul the pipe and eventually interrupt the flow, and second,
Contributed by the Petroleum Division and presented at the Twentieth Annual
Energy-Sources Technology Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, February
1-3, 1999, of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OH MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. Manuscript received
by the Petroleum Division, October 13, 1998; revised manuscript received May 10,
1999, Associate Technical Editor: W. P. Jepson.
shut-down.
Chemically heavy oil differs from light oil by containing a
group of molecules called the asphaltenes. The asphaltenes are
really a mixture of a great many molecules. They are usually
defined as those molecules that precipitate on addition of heptane.
Although the asphaltenes are only a useful pseudo-component,
viscosity correlates strongly with their concentration as if they
were a true component of the oil (Storm, 1991, 1993a, 199.5,
1996).
At least part of the asphaltenes exist in heavy oil as colloidal
particles (Storm, 1992). It is basically interactions between these
colloidal particles that causes higher viscosities (Storm, 1991,
1993a, 1996). Evidence also exists that supports the hypothesis
that the asphaltenic colloidal particles are actually micelles which
form in the oil by self-association at a fairly sharp asphaltene
concentration (Storm, 1995). It has been known for some time that
asphaltenes behave as surfactants at oil-water interfaces (Strassner,
1968).
The presence of asphaltenic surfactants which organize into
micelles under certain conditions implies heavy oil is a complex
fluid, or a fluid that has a microstructure. It is well known that
complex fluids such as shampoo have unusual rheological prop-
erties (Herb et al., 1994). A shampoo must be thick and viscous in
the container, but flow through a small opening when the container
is squeezed. This is accomplished by creating a network of entan-
gled cylindrical micelles which will break under the stresses gen-
erated when the shampoo is squeezed out through the small open-
ing.
The shampoo system is water based, as are most complex fluids
that have received serious study over the years. Perhaps more
relevant to the case of heavy oil is the report by Roux et al. (1994)
that an oil-concentrated lyotropic lamellar phase can be made to
exist in a mixture of dodecane (oil), water, sodium dodecylsulfate,
and pentanol. This mixture also has unusual rheological properties.
Roux et al. (1994) found that the viscosity drops by a factor of a
100 under a suitable high stress. Apparently, blocks of oil sepa-
rated by a thin water layer slip pass each other once a critical stress
is exceeded.
Figure 1 shows the viscosity of Kern River crude oil as a
function of applied shear stress. There is a drop in viscosity over
a narrow range of shear stresses that is very similar to that
observed by Roux et al. (1994).
Crude oils are usually produced along with water, and de-
emulsifiers are often employed to aid in the dewatering process.
Commercially available crude oils can contain up to 3 percent
water. Since the Kern River crude oil contains 1-3 percent water,
natural asphaltenic surfactants and surfactants added during the
dewatering process, one could hypothesize that Fig. 1 implies

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0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
a(Pa)
Fig. 1 Viscosity of Kern River crude oii as function of siiear stress
(circles at 104°F, diamonds at 113°F; 1 Pa = 1.45 x 10"'' psi)
commercially available Kern River crude oil also has a microstruc-
ture that becomes organized under stress into a liquid crystal with
planes oriented in the direction of flow.
Since pentanoi is often added to stabilize a liquid crystal phase
(Bellocq and Roux, 1986), the effect of adding pentanoi and other
alcohols on the flow characteristics of heavy oil are described in
this contribution. We find there is a significant drop in viscosity
that depends on both the identity of the alcohol and the position of
the alcohol functional group along the chain. The flow character-
istics were evaluated in an 86-ft-l |-in. (i.d.) flow loop, and the
effect was tested at field conditions in an 1800-ft-6-in. flow loop at
Texaco's pilot faciUties in Humble, Texas.
Experimental. The viscosity of Kern River crude oil shown in
Fig. 1 was measured as a function of shear stress with a Bohlin
constant stress rheometer. All other viscosities reported in this
work were measured using a Brookfield viscometer. In some cases,
an effective viscosity was calculated from flow loop data by
assuming Poiseuille flow.
The effect of alcohols on the flow characteristics of heavy oils
was evaluated in an Ij-in. circulating oil flow loop. The loop
consisted of a 120-gal storage tank, a pulseless progressive cavity
Moyno pump, with a maximum discharge pressure of 200 psi, a
frame and plate heat exchanger and a 120-ft loop of 1 |-in. Sched-
ule 40 pipe. The test section was 86 ft long, and contained four
90-deg bends. A Rosemount differential pressure transducer was
used to measure the difference between inlet and outlet pressures
across the test section of the loop (86 ft). The tank and pipe were
insulated, and the outside pipe temperatures were controlled using
heating tape in order to maintain isothermal conditions. In a typical
test, an oil temperature and flow rate was chosen, the oil was
allowed to circulate through the loop for 2-4 h, and then the
differential pressure drop across the test section was measured.
A three-day test was done at Texaco's fully automated three-
phase Humble flow facility using the 1800-ft-6-in. flowline. Oil
and brine was stored in the three-phase separator and pumped
separately into the loop. The test section of the loop was 1666 ft
long and contained two 90-deg bends. There were five temperature
and pressure transducers equally spaced along the loop. There
were two differential pressure transducers, one across the complete
1666-ft test section, and one across one-half of the test section. The
crude oil in this test was a mixture of an 11° API crude from the
Nomenclature
DR = drag reducer ri'„ = dynamic viscosity at zero shear
BOPD = barrels of oil per day stress measure in Bohlin rheometer
AP/L = pressure gradient in flow loop
experiments
146 / Vol. 121, SEPTEMBER 1999
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9000,
8000
7000
H- ... . . ] . . „ , .
\'\ 1
6000 -1 \
£ 5000 LL .. ,\....
^ 4000
3000 - \ k
2000 - --- V V ;
1000 L , 7::^::-,..^
0
0 10 15 20 25 30
Wt. %
Fig. 2 Viscosity of Kern River crude oil at 77°F (square i<erosene, circles
pentanoi; 1000 cP = 1 Pa.s)
North Sea and an asphaltenic 10° API from Mississippi. Flow rates
varied from 1000 barrels per day to 10,000 barrels per day. The
watercut varied from 4 to 30 percent. After baseline runs with only
the oil, 5 percent pentanoi was added, and then after these runs,
0.05 percent of a commercially available drag reducer was also
added. The pressure drop was measured at several different tem-
peratures for each condition within a narrow temperature range.
This data was used to develop an empirical relationship between
pressure drop and temperature that was used to correct for small
temperature differences. The pressure drop is reported in Fig. 8 at
a common temperature of 110°F.
Results and Discussion
The behavior of the viscosity of Kern River crude oil as a
function of shear stress shown in Fig. I is quite suggestive, but not
completely reproducible. Such behavior has been observed fre-
quently in our experiments. The critical stresses are in the range of
5-15 Pa and the temperatures in the range of 77-113°F. If the
asphaltenes are treated chemically, the reduction in viscosity can
be made to occur both more consistently, and at lower critical
stresses. However, the chemical treatment is too difficult to control
on a large scale to be practical.
The analogy between the viscosity behavior shown in Fig. I and
that reported by Roux et al. (1994) suggest a liquid crystal phase
could be forming in Kern River crude oil, and this phase could be
stabilized by adding pentanoi. Pentanoi (1-pentanoi) is thought to
get between surfactant molecules and reduce head group repulsion
at the interface. Apparently, the five-carbon chain is just long
enough to be incorporated in the hydrocarbon environment, but not
too long as to cause disorder. It is important for the alcohol group
to be at the end of the chain in order for the alcohol chain not to
spoil the packing of the surfactant molecules.
Figure 2 shows the effect of pentanoi on the viscosity of Kern
River crude at 77°F. Also shown is the effect of an equivalent
amount of kerosene. Kerosene is expected to be a simple dilluent.
Figure 2 illustrates that 1-pentanoi is a least twice as effective in
reducing the viscosity as kerosene, suggesting that it is not a
simple dilluent.
Figure 3 further illustrates that the effect is not simple dilution.
Butanol and pentanoi are not only more effective than kerosene,
but also more effective than other similar alcohols. Figure 3 also
applied shear stress
viscosity measure in Brookfield vis-
cometer
Transactions of the ASIUIE
 3500 0.4
»
0.35 L II -
3000 - \
i 0.3 r- - ••- - •

„ 2500 0.25
•
a. 0.2
•t 2000 -.-- - .- - •-.- - -
41
8 I <
4» -
0.15
- •. -.. I .*
> 1500 0.1
i>
i it
i 0.05
1000
0
02 0.4 0.6 1.2 1.4
500

Carbon Number FLOWRATE(gpm)

Fig. 3 Viscosity of Kern River crude oii witli 5 percent alcohol as Fig. 5 Pressure gradient in 1 f i n . flow loop (circles, Kern River; squares
function of alcohol chain length (1000 cP = 1 Pa.s) with 0.1 percent DR; triangles with 0.1 percent DR + 5 percent pentanoi)

illustrates an optimum chain length for the alcohol. Butanol and
pentanoi are clearly more effective than methanol or ethanol, and
also more effective than octanol. Figure 4 shows the position of the
alcohol group on the C, chain has an effect; the best position for
the alcohol group is at the end of the chain.
The observations illustrated in Figs. 2-3 are in accord with what
one would expect if a liquid crystal phase plays a role in deter-
mining rheological properties.
Table 1 shows the addition of a commercial drag reducer in
combination with 1-pentanoi lowers the viscosity even more. The
optimum concentration depends on both the oil and the concen-
tration of alcohol, and Table 1 is shown for illustrative purposes
only.
Figure 5 shows that the reduction in viscosities observed in the
viscometer measurements translate into a decrease in pressure
gradient in the Ij-in. flow loop experiments for Kern River crude
oil with 5 percent pentanoi and 0.1 percent of the drag reducer. As
expected, the drag reducer by itself increases the pressure gradient.
1150
1100
„ 1050
a.
o percent, while those in runs with pentanoi were in the range of 10
•t 1000
o
u ated, and salt does not have a deleterious effect. Addition of 0.01
tf)
since it is basically a high molecular weight polymer. The role that
it plays when pentanoi is present is not understood at present. It is
possible that the drag reducer also contains surfactants, and these
could help stabilize the liquid crystal microphase. Another con-
jecture is that the high-polymer drag reducer increases the stability
of the membrane interface to thermal fluctuations.
Figure 6 illustrates another interesting observation. The effec-
tive viscosity calculated from the flow loop data is relatively
temperature independent when pentanoi and the drag reducer are
present. This can be interpreted as also supporting the liquid
crystal hypothesis. The liquid crystal phase is thermodynamically
stable within a region in the temperature and composition diagram.
As long as the fluid is in this phase, the effective viscosity should
not depend strongly on temperature. Effective viscosity in the
flowing system is calculated from the pressure drop and pump flow
rate by assuming Poiseuille flow.
Figure 7 illustrates that similar results can be obtained with the
heavy Venezuelan crude oil BCF13. The maximum flow rate that
can be obtained in the Ij-in. flow loop can be increased by more
than a factor of two when 5 percent pentanoi and the drag reducer
are present.
Figure 8 illustrates the results obtained in the 6-in. flow loop at
Texaco's Humble facility. In this case the oil was a mixture of a
heavy oil from the North Sea and from Mississippi. The watercut
(brine) in the runs without pentanoi were in the range of 4-9
percent. Apparently, water contents up to 10 percent can be toler-

> 950 percent of the drag reducer on the third day did not produce a
beneficial effect, however.
900

850 2500

2000
Alcohol Position Number On Chain

Fig. 4 Viscosity of Kern River crude oil with 5 percent pentanoi as 1500
function of aicohoi position on chain (1000 cP = 1 Pa.s)
m
O
O 1000
Table 1 Viscosity (Pa.s) of Kern River crude oil
500
1 percent 3 percent 5 percent
Percent DR pentanoi pentanoi pentanoi
0 0.825 0.554 0.402 130
0.1 0.918 0.544 0.361
0.3 0.868 0.544 0.374
0.5 0.838 0.508 0.407 TEMPERATURE{OF)
1.0 0.962 0.551 0.416
1.5 0.972 0.571 1.440 Fig. 6 Effective viscosity in 1 f i n . flow loop (triangles, Kern River;
squares with 5 percent pentanoi; 1000 cP = 1 Pa.s)

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 4

3.5 h
r'""
3 7- l\
2.5 ^ V
2
2 1.5 i- --
1
0.5
1:;.=.= -—= =•-
J
0
92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106 108 / \ .

TEMPERATURE(OF)
Time(s)
Fig. 7 Maximum fiow rate in 1 J-in. fiow loop with BCF13 (circies, BCF13;
Fig. 9 Pressure transient In 6-ln. flow line after restart at 10,000 BOPD
diamonds with 5 percent pentanol)

One point of special interest in these tests was what would
happen after an emergency shut down. In core annular flow, one
would expect that it would be difficult to re-establish the flow.
However, if a liquid crystal phase is involved, one might imagine
that the pipeline could be restarted with only a momentary pressure
increase corresponding to the effort required to reorient the liquid
crystal planes in the direction of flow. Figure 9 shows this is indeed
the case. The line was restarted after a 25-s shutdown, and after a
brief pressure transient, the pressure in the line returned to its
previous value.
Conclusions
The pressure drop associated with pipeline flow of heavy crude
oil can be reduced significantly by adding butanol or pentanol.
This result has been demonstrated with Kern River crude oil and a
Venezuelan crude oil called BCF 13 in a Ij-in. flow loop that was
86 ft long. It was also demonstrated using a mixture of North Sea
and Mississippi heavy oils in a 6-in. flow loop that was 1666 ft
long. Up to 10 percent brine did not have a deleterious effect. The
Flowrate{BOPD)
Fig. 8 Pressure drop in 6 in. flow loop at 316 K (IIO^FH*, as Is; • with
5 percent pentanol)
flow can be completely re-established within moments after an
emergency shutdown.
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148 / Vol. 121, SEPTEMBER 1999 Transactions of the ASME

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