MIT researchers design coatings to prevent clogging of natural gas pipelines
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico is undoubtedly a major disaster in human history. It is the most serious oil spill accident at present, and the British oil development company of “Sham Shui Po Horizon†operator thinks it can stop the crude oil leakage in a few weeks after the accident, but it has not actually completed the construction on schedule. The main culprit hindering the restoration work is the methaneclathrate, which is what we commonly call flammable ice. The pipeline blockage caused by it becomes very difficult to eliminate.
However, recently, a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mechanical engineering proposed a new program to help prevent the accumulation of ice-water mixtures in the event of future oil spills, and to slow down or stop oil and gas flow, and at the same time, during normal mining operations. It can also prevent flammable ice from clogging natural gas pipelines. The key to this solution is to apply a barrier layer material on the inner wall surface of the natural gas pipeline. The barrier layer can effectively prevent any ice particles or water droplets from adhering to the pipeline wall, thus preventing and slowing down the accumulation of combustible ice. This research paper is currently reported in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. The research team was led by Kripa Varanasi, professor of mechanical engineering.
Unlike traditional methods, this method does not require heat treatment of the pipe. At the same time, the material of the barrier layer material itself can be extracted from the crude oil, which can effectively make the combustible ice ice-water mixture unable to adsorb thereon. Varanasi explained: “The existing defensive measures are called flow protection measures. Compared with the previous melting of flammable ice by the wall heating, the cost of such measures will be lower and more environmentally friendly. It can also prevent real-time. The blockage of flammable ice inside the pipeline makes the pipeline unblocked, thereby indirectly making production and mining more efficient."
The system consists of two steps, first making a textured coating on the inner wall of the pipe and then adding a barrier material that can be captured by the textured coating. Although the research team has verified in the laboratory that this solution can isolate the ice hydrates that adhere to the pipeline, the research team was unable to simulate the high pressure conditions in the laboratory like real pipelines, so it is not yet certain that it will be used in specific applications. What is the effect?
The study is continuing and the Italian energy company Eni SpA is funding the energy program.
Hydrazine Hydrate,Colorless Liquid Hydrazine Hydrate,Colorless Transparent Liquid Hydrazine Hydrate,Hydrazine Hydrate 24%-80%
Yibin Tianyuan Group , https://www.ybtyco.com