Effect of initial-interfacial mixing on the amount of contamination in multiproduct pipelines

Abstract

A novel approach was developed based on real conditions to calculate the amount of contamination between sequential fluids in multiproduct pipelines. Besides, the fluid shift time at the source terminal and the pipeline’s pressure gradient were used as new critical parameters for estimating initial-interfacial mixing. Also, a new correlation was presented using the experimental evaluation (i.e. monitoring the mixing growth along pipelines) and numerical modeling. The proposed equation showed acceptable results compared to the field data collected from the 55-km-long 10-in diameter and 136-km-long 16-in diameter pipelines. Increasing the initial mixing during the fluid change at the source terminal significantly enlarges the contamination.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• contamination
• fluid shift time
• initial-interfacial mixing
• multiproduct pipeline
• sequential fluids

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.