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New Development of Drag Reducing Agent for oil pipeline (Part 6)

Increase throughput

Especially in the neck section, after adding drag reducing agent, the throughput of the whole pipeline can be increased to meet the requirements of multi transportation and fast transportation. It can adjust the oil transportation plan flexibly to meet the market demand and create economic and social benefits to the maximum extent. In order to increase the flexibility of pipeline transportation and adapt to the change of oilfield production, it is of great practical significance to apply drag reducing agent technology in China. With the increase of oilfield production, the pipeline needs to be expanded in stages. Sometimes, it may cause a lot of waste to start the pipeline in a hurry. Taking the expansion of Dongying Huangdao pipeline as an example, the planned output of the oil field increased significantly in 1985, which required the pipeline to be over transported by 30%. Therefore, four additional pressure stations were built, with an investment of 20 million yuan and a construction period of half a year. However, after the completion of the project, the output of the oilfield was not as expected, and four pumping stations were idle. It is obvious that the investment can be greatly saved if the drag reducing agent transportation technology is adopted. In addition, the booster station was expanded first, and then the auxiliary pipe was added, but it didn't work well in practice. Obviously, in the pipeline oil transportation, due to the unclear prospect of oil field, the situation of large production change often occurs. If drag reducing agent is used to solve the contradiction of large increase of oil throughput in a short time, it is technically feasible and economically reasonable.   

Cost reduction

The maintenance and renovation of pump unit or pump station can be realized under the condition of non-stop transportation, so as to reduce the cost of maintenance and transformation. We can also use the method of adding drag reducing agent to stop some pumping stations with difficult conditions and bad environment, so as to reduce the number of personnel. For example, the Golmud Lhasa oil pipeline passes through the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, where the average altitude is more than 3000m. There are quite a number of pumping stations located above 4700m above sea level, so it is very difficult for people to survive. It is entirely possible to use drag reducing agent and automation technology to shut down some intermediate pumping stations and reduce the number of personnel. This will not only bring remarkable economic benefits, but also bring huge social benefits.

Improve safety and reliability

For example, the pipeline network in eastern China has been running for more than 30 years. Due to the serious corrosion of the internal and external walls of the pipeline, the pressure resistance capacity of the pipeline is greatly reduced. It is particularly important to reduce the working pressure of the pipeline and improve the safety and reliability of the system. As a short-term emergency measure, drag reducing agent has great advantages. However, for the long-term pipeline, the economic benefit is not obvious due to the need for a large amount of drag reducing agent, and the drag reducing agent injection device is added in the oil transportation system, which improves the operation volume and failure rate of the whole system, which is not conducive to the daily operation and management. Therefore, it is necessary to give priority to the drag reducing agent technology, and can not blindly follow the application. It can be predicted that, in the near future, as a new transportation technology, DRA injection technology will create greater economic and social benefits for China's pipeline industry. China National Petroleum and natural gas pipeline company has applied for more than 20 invention patents of EP series drag reducing agents. The synthesis method has realized the leap from solution polymerization to bulk polymerization in foreign countries, and all technical indexes have reached the international leading level. Up to now, China petroleum pipeline company has mastered three key technologies: α - olefin raw material purification technology, polymerization reaction thermal control technology and drag reduction polymer dispersion technology, with independent intellectual property rights and breaking the international monopoly. It is introduced that α - olefin drag reducing agent can increase the transportation capacity of new pipeline by 60%, and make the old pipeline operate safely under the condition of keeping the designed capacity. It has been successfully applied in many domestic oil pipelines. In addition, α - olefin DRA has also been used in oil pipelines of nearly 10 countries, such as Britain, Norway, Iran, Sudan, etc., and has become an international famous brand. Its production cost is only 1 / 3 of that of foreign similar products, and the investment of production equipment is only 1 / 20 of that of foreign countries.