TY - JOUR
T1 - High-pressure visual experimental studies of oil-in-water dispersion droplet size
AU - Aman, Zach
AU - Paris, C.B.
AU - May, Eric Freemantle
AU - Johns, Michael
AU - Lindo-Atichati, D.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The formation of oil-in-water dispersions is a critical step during the blowout of coastal and deepwater oil and gas production systems, and is a determining factor in the vertical and lateral migration of oil through the associated adjacent water column. In this study a high-pressure sapphire visual autoclave apparatus was used to measure the size of crude oil droplets that were saturated with gas and dispersed in an aqueous phase as a function of mixing speed. Oil-in-water droplet size distributions were measured at pressures of 11MPa, for autoclave stirring rates of 200-1000RPM (1076≤Restirred vessel≤5378). Arithmetic mean droplet diameters decreased monotonically from 344 to 125μm over this range, with maximum droplet sizes decreasing from 708 to 441μm. A model tuned to the measured oil-in-water data was used to predict a mean droplet size on the order of 80μm for Deepwater Horizon conditions; when incorporated into far field blowout simulations, this droplet size data enables quantitative assessment of the impact of dispersant injection at the blowout site.
AB - © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The formation of oil-in-water dispersions is a critical step during the blowout of coastal and deepwater oil and gas production systems, and is a determining factor in the vertical and lateral migration of oil through the associated adjacent water column. In this study a high-pressure sapphire visual autoclave apparatus was used to measure the size of crude oil droplets that were saturated with gas and dispersed in an aqueous phase as a function of mixing speed. Oil-in-water droplet size distributions were measured at pressures of 11MPa, for autoclave stirring rates of 200-1000RPM (1076≤Restirred vessel≤5378). Arithmetic mean droplet diameters decreased monotonically from 344 to 125μm over this range, with maximum droplet sizes decreasing from 708 to 441μm. A model tuned to the measured oil-in-water data was used to predict a mean droplet size on the order of 80μm for Deepwater Horizon conditions; when incorporated into far field blowout simulations, this droplet size data enables quantitative assessment of the impact of dispersant injection at the blowout site.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84922985307
U2 - 10.1016/j.ces.2015.01.058
DO - 10.1016/j.ces.2015.01.058
M3 - Article
SN - 0009-2509
VL - 127
SP - 392
EP - 400
JO - Chemical Engineering Science
JF - Chemical Engineering Science
ER -
