HEALTH & SAFETY 69
Fig. 1. Water droplets lie flat on a brass surface: the
SINTEF scientists use different types of metals to mimic the surface of the inner wall of the pipeline.
Photo:
Guro Aspenes, SINTEF Petroleum Research, Bergen.
“At a recent conference, Shell acknowledged
that it regards our method of characterising oils as promising, which of course is nice to hear, for us who have helped to develop the method,” says Høiland. According to Per Fotland, a specialist in the field development department at StatoilHydro’s Research Centre in Bergen, the petroleum industry has a lot to gain if the Hyades project’s oil analysis methods meet with success. “We may be able to predict that in some fields, we
can reduce the use of chemicals drastically, compared to current levels of consumption, and perhaps even see that a small dose of antifreeze every couple of weeks will be sufficient. In some cases, such a finding could mean that field development projects that were previously regarded as unprofitable could become profitable after all,” he says.
T
he StatoilHydro specialist says that the oil analysis tool that the Hyades team aims to develop will be an important prerequisite for the prospect of developing such
predictive explanations.
“But we also need other bits of the puzzle. For example, we need to know more about the effect of different flow regimes on hydrate formation,” he says. According to Høiland, as soon as the scientists manage to close in on the components that actually make unproblematic oil unproblematic, an interesting
new problem will appear. The question is whether it will be possible to blend
factory-produced copies of these key components into the problem oil as a substitute for the antifreeze. “It’s an exciting thought, but we have a long way to go yet,” she says.
Environmetal laws
The SINTEF scientist explains that such key components are already commercially available, but that they are toxic and cannot be used on the Norwegian continental shelf, because of the country’s strict environmental laws.
“If we manage to identify the natural components in the oil, we will have a good point of departure for designing environmentally friendly alternatives.” The Hyades project is a continuation of research initiated by Hydro in 2000. According to Høiland, Professor Tanja Barth of the University of Bergen has made important contributions since the start of the project, with her knowledge of the molecular composition of oil. Chemists in SINTEF’s Bergen office, all of whom
were educated at the University of Bergen, have contributed their expertise on interactions between hydrates and the oil molecules. “We have been ploughing new ground by demonstrating that these interactions can be studied in the laboratory,” concluded Høiland. o
www.engineerlive.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76