Multiphase Flow Production Enhancement Using Drag Reducing Polymers

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive experimental investigation concerning the effect of drag reducing polymers (DRP) on enhancing the throughput and reducing the pressure drop for a horizontal pipe carrying two-phase flow of air and water mixture. Moreover, the ability of these polymer entanglements to damp turbulence waves and changing the flow regime has been tested at various conditions, and a clear observation showed that the maximum drag reduction always occurs when the highly fluctuated waves were reduced effectively by DRP (and that, accordingly, phase transition (flow regime changed) appeared. This may also help in improving the separation process and enhancing the separator performance. The present experimental set-up has been constructed using a test section of 1.016-cm ID; an acrylic tube section was used to enable visual observations of the flow patterns. A new injection technique has been utilized and, with the use of different injection rates of DRP, the results have shown that the reduction in pressure drop occurred in all flow configurations. Furthermore, different empirical correlations have been developed which improve the ability to predict the pressure drop after the addition of DRP. The correlations showed low discrepancy for a wide range of water and air flow rates.