A research team from the universities of Kerbala and Babylon has obtained a patent from the Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control affiliated to the Ministry of Planning and entitled “Drag Reduction of Iraqi Crude Oil Flow in Pipelines by Polymeric Additives”
The team consists of Dr. Farhan Lafta Latif from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Kerbala, Dr. Odeh Jabbar Baraihi, Dr. Ahmed Hashem Muhaisin, and Eng. Akram Jassim Jawad from the University of Babylon,
This study has been carried out to show that a Drag Reducing Agent (DRA) has been employed to reduce the drag of Iraqi crude oil using Poly Vinyl Pyridine (PVP) at different concentrations (0, 500, 750, 1000, 1250 and 1500 ppm).
The study concludes that a significant decrease in flow index values has been achieved at a concentration range of (750-1500 ppm) in which the lowest value is obtained at a PVP concentration of 1000 ppm. This has been clarified by obtaining flow indexes of less than unity indicating the sample shear thinning. Thus, using a DRA concentration of 1500 ppm decreases the pressure drop by 35.7 % for a pipeline capacity, pipe diameter and length of 0.02 m³/s, 0.0508 m and 10 m, respectively.
