Alaska pipeline

E. D. Waters and co-workers, "The AppHcation of Heat Pipes for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline," Proceedings of the 10th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference Newark, Del., 1975. 

At the beginning of 1992, the largest Hquids pipelines in the United States, based on pipeline length, were Amoco Pipeline Co., 19,096 km Mobil Pipe Line Co., 15,026 km Exxon Pipeline Co., 14,983 km and Conoco Pipe Line Co., 12,980 km. Distances do not include 1316 km of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline with multiple ownership. In both 1991 and 1992, the product pipeline company with the most product deHveries was Colonial Pipeline with 104,990,000 m, more than double the amount deHvered by Santa Ee Pacific Pipelines, Inc. The top pipeline in terms of cmde oil deHveries was the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., operator of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, with movement of 105,735,000 m (3). 

A 2.54-cm Styrofoam plastic foam with thermal conductivity of ca 0.03 W/ (m-K) (0.21 (Btu-in.)/(ft-b°F)) is equivalent to 61 cm of gravel. Any synthetic foam having compressive strength sufficiently high and thermal conductivity sufficiently low is effective. However, the resistance of PS-type foams to water, frost damage, and microorganisms in the sod makes them especially desirable. An interesting and important appHcation of this concept was the use of Styrofoam in the constmction of the Alaska pipeline. In this case, the foam was used to protect the permafrost. 

Some environmentalists anticipated a major accident like that of the Exxon Valdez. When plaiiiiing for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline took place during the energy crisis of the early 1970s, it was controversial because of the conflicts of balancing the needs of oil... 

Many people are familiar with the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). It is the most photographed pipeline as it, unlike most pipelines, has significant portions of the system above ground. Crude oil is produced in Alaska, moves south on TAPS and then moves by tank ship to the West Coast. From the tank ship, the crude again moves by pipeline to refineries along the west coast of the U.S. 

Hydrogen powered cars need to hold enough fuel to get the 300 mile driving range of today s IC cars. Hydrogen service stations are few, so refueling becomes a problem. About 12,000 fuel stations in the hundred largest cities in the U.S. would put 70% of the population within 2 miles of fuel. At a cost of one million dollars per station, 12 billion would be needed to provide a fuel infrastructure. This is less than half of what it would cost to build the Alaska pipeline in today s dollars. 

The 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline pumps oil from the northern coast to the southern border of Alaska. 

Public concern about industrial chemical exposures might also be misguided. The EPA typically uses mathematical dispersion models to calculate human exposure to chemicals released into the air by major stationary sources like factories and power plants. There is little evidence that the models are predictive. In one experiment, a tracer gas was released from the Alaska pipeline terminus at Valdez. Actual exposure, as measured by personal exposure badges, was compared with the predictions of the EPA dispersion model. The statistical correlation between them was near zero (— 0.01), meaning the predictions were worthless (Wallace 1993, 137-38). 

The Western Operating Area of the Prodhoe Bay field in Alaska gathers oil and gas front 17 remote well pad facilities, covering an area of 108 square wiles. Three Gathering Centers, each capable of handling 300 HB/D of oil and 480 MMSCF/D of gas, preprocess the oil before shipment via the Trans-Alaska pipeline. 

There are two product lines leaving each GC -the oil transit line which supplies the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) Pump Station II, and the gas transit line which sends gas to the Central Compression Plant for reinjection to the reservoir gas cap. 

Fig. 2. The Alaska pipeline, one of the most significant large-scale technical examples of the benefits to be gained from the drag reduction effect. Over a distance of 1287 km, polymer is injected approximately every 100 km at a concentration of 5-25 ppm...

As it has not so far been possible to predict this phenomenon in a clear and quantitative manner, its technological use has yet to be fully realized. As far as is known, the only large-scale technical application is the Alaska-pipeline (see Sect. 2). 

Whalen S. C. and Reeburgh W. S. (1990a) A methane flux transect along the trans-Alaska pipeline haul road. Tellus 42B, 237-245. 

The company was rescued, thanks to high investments outside of the Middle East. Since the early 1980s, British Petroleum has developed many more oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Among these have been, in the UK sector, Magnus, the Village gas fields at Miller and Bruce and, in Norwegian waters, Ula and Gyda. In Alaska, the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System enabled the Prudhoe Bay field to come on stream in 1977. In 1981, the Kuparuk field also started production, and towards the end of 1987, the world s first continuous commercial production was recorded from an offshore area in the Arctic when the Endicott field was commissioned. 

The ballast treatment facility studied is located at the terminal of the Alaska pipeline in Port Valdez, Alaska. The treatment involves primary separation by gravity in 430,000-barrel-capacity tanks, followed by a secondary treatment consisting of a combination of chemically aided flocculation and dissolved air flotation processes, with final pH adjustment and an effluent impound basin. The total residence time of ballast water in the treatment facility is usually less than 48 hr. 

Passive two-phase heat transfer devices capable of transferring large quantities of heat with a minimal temperature drop were first introduced by Gaugler in 1944 [1]. These devices, however, received little attention until Grover et al. [2] published the results of an independent investigation and first applied the term heat pipe. Since that time, heat pipes have been employed in numerous applications ranging from temperature control of the permafrost layer under the Alaska pipeline to the thermal control of electronic components such as high-power semiconductor devices [3]. 

Burger, E. D., Perkins, T. K. Striegler, J. H. 1981. Studies of wax deposition in Trans Alaska Pipeline. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 33, 1076-1086. 

A retired electrician who had worked on the trans-Alaska pipeline recently committed suicide in an Arkansas jail after being arrested under the antiterrorism act for possessing castor beans. Two years before, a large quantity of ricin toxin and weapons, ammunition, and gold were found in his car by Canadian customs officials as he crossed the border from Alaska to Canada.1819... 

One of the most commercially desirable appHcations for OTMs is the spontaneous partial oxidation of natural gas into synthesis gas. This latter feedstock is of major importance for its subsequent conversion to methanol and to hydrogen. Additionally, synthesis gas can be converted, via Fischer-Tropsch chemistry, into liquid fuels (gas to liquids, GTL) particularly under circumstances where natural gas is located remotely from the place of consumption. Because the resulting hquid fuels possess an intrinsically higher energy density than natural gas, they would be less expensive to transport. One prime example is the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which in the future could be used to transport synthetic liquid fuels derived from Alaska s vast reserves of natural gas in the Prudhoe Bay area to the Port of Valdez [36]. This is one of many remote natural gas locations around the world which could take advantage of OTM technology. 

A liquid pipeline has less stored energy than a gas pipeline, and a rupture does not cause an explosion. However, an explosion can occur on ignition of an explosive product. In the case of a hazardous liquid product pipeline, the environmental impact can be as serious as an explosion. The risk of an oil leak from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System has continued to be the primary driver for the aggressive corrosion prevention and inspection program maintained by the operator. Of major concern is the risk of oil leakage into water streams and thereby contaminating water supplies. 

Klechka, E.W. 2001. Use of corrosion inhibitors on the Trans Alaska pipeline. Materials Performance 40 (Suppl. 1), pp. 7-9. 

ED Berger, WR Munk, HA Wahl. Flow increase in the trans-Alaska pipeline through use of a polymeric drag-reducing additive. J Petrol Technol (Feb) 377, 1982. 

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