Pipeline transport, liquids

Pipelines. The feasibility of pipeline transportation depends on the availability of very large quantities of compatible materials between locations with sufficient storage facilities. Thus, pipeline transportation is predominantly, but not exclusively, limited to the movement of hydrocarbons, many of which are raw materials in the production of petrochemicals. Although proprietary pipelines (qv), generally of short distances, ate not unusual, commercial petroleum pipelines are considered to be common carriers available to serve all customers who can tender sufficient quantities of acceptable liquids for transportation between terminals. 

Charles, M. E. and CHARLES, R. A. Paper A12, Advances in Solid-Liquid Flow in Pipes and its Application, Zandi. 1, (ed.), Pergamon Press (1971). The use of heavy media in the pipeline transport of particulate... 

Wasp EJ, JP Kenny, RL Gandhi. Solid-Liquid Flow in Slurry Pipeline Transportation. Clausthal, Germany Trans-Tech, 1977. 

The produced fluids and gases are typically directed into separation vessels. Under the influence of gravity, pressure, heat, retention times, and sometimes electrical fields, separation of the various phases of gas, oil, and water occurs so that they can be drawn off in separate streams. Suspended solids such as sediment and salt will also be removed. Deadly hydrogen sulfide (H2S), is sometimes also encountered, which is extracted simultaneously with the petroleum production. Crude oil containing H2S can be shipped by pipeline and used as a refinery feed but it is undesirable for tanker or long pipeline transport. The normal commercial concentration of impurities in crude oil sales is usually less than 0.5% BS W (Basic Sediment and Water) and 10 Ptb (Pounds of salt per 1,000 barrels of oil). The produced liquids and gases are then transported to a gas plant or refinery by truck, railroad tank car, ship, or pipeline. Large oil field areas normally have direct outlets to major, common-carrier pipelines. 

Pipeline Transportation Systems for Liquid Hydrocarbons and Other Liquids.B31.4-2006... 

Table 12.4 shows the technoeconomic assumptions for trailer transport of liquid hydrogen. A large part of the trailer costs are the wages of the driver. The variable costs increase with increasing transport distance, because of the fuel consumption of the trailers themselves. To be able to make a direct cost comparison between trailer and pipeline transport, the liquefaction costs (of which electricity costs account for some 30%-60%) need to be taken into account as well. 

The choice of transport option, basically pipeline and liquid hydrogen trailer, depends on transport volumes and distances, as well as on liquefaction energy costs. For large transport volumes and long distances pipelines are exclusively used. Also, with smaller volumes and... 

E.J. Wasp, J.P. Kenny, and R.L. Gandhi, Solid-Liquid Plow in Slurry Pipeline Transportation, Trans. Tech. Publ., 1977, Gulf, Houston, 1979. 

Pipeline transport involves the application of force to the material being moved, either through the use of pumps to transport liquids, compressors to move gases, or flowing water to move solids. In some applications, vacuum may create the pressure differential. 

The largest pipeline transport of gas, by far, is the movement of methane (natural gas). Natural gas can be liquefied, but it is not pipelined in liquid form because of cost and safety considerations. For overseas transport, it is shipped as liquefied natural gas (LNG) in insulated tankers, unloaded at special unloading facilities, vaporized, and then transported over land in pipelines as a gas. 

The main technical difference between liquid and gas pipeline transport is the compressibility of the fluid being moved and the use of pumps, rather than compressors, to supply the pressure needed for transport. The primary use for liquids pipelines is the transport of crude oil and petroleum products. 

Pipelines to transport solids are called freight pipelines, of which three different types exist pneumatic pipelines, the use of which is known as pneumotransport or pneumatic conveying slurry pipelines, which may also be called hydrotransport or hydraulic conveying and capsule pipelines. When air or inert gas is used to move the solids in the pipeline, the system is called a pneumatic pipeline and often involves a wheeled vehicle inside the pipeline, propelled by air moving through the pipe (25). Slurry pipelines involve the transport of solid particles suspended in water or another inert liquid. Hydraulic capsule pipelines transport solid material within cylindrical containers, using water flow through the pipeline for propulsion. 

The world-wide knowledge in design, construction and operation of hydraulic pipeline systems based on experimental investigation and operational experiences as well as on theoretical calculations has shown the efficiency and prospect of the pipeline transport of coal in comparison with other kinds of transport. However, at a level of technical projects a series of weaknesses and/or imperfections in contemporary used systems of the coal pipelining with water used as a carrier liquid have been detected. One of them is a rather difficult, energy consuming and expensive process of dehydration of coal slurry before combustion. Besides, transport of a great quantity of ballast - the carrier water - also requires considerable power inputs and usually also expensive water treatment before reutilization or... 

The second way is a capsule pipeline transport. Hydraulic capsule pipeline and pneumatic capsule pipeline is the transport of freight encapsulated to cylindrical or spherical bodies, so called capsules (with diameter only slightly less than the pipe), conveyed through pipeline by liquid or gas, respectively. Hodgson Charles [8] and Jensen [9,10] referred to capsule pipelining as the third generation of pipelining. 

Using of the methanol as a carrier liquid is also very advantageous due to its low temperature of freezing. It allows to lead the pipeline superficially over a ground surface even in the arctic regions what could play an important role for using the methanol for pipeline transport of coal in the northern and mountainous areas of the USA (Alaska), Canada and former Soviet Union, [18],... 

Similar result brings comparison of power consumption reduction for transport of encapsulated viscous liquid (Russian oil) conveyed by water with conventional pipeline transport of the oil. Transport of viscous oil and oil products by means of capsule pipelining may again provide power consumption reduction from 50% to 70%, the reduction increases with operational velocity. Since for low temperature the oil viscosity significantly increases hydraulic capsule pipeline transport of highly viscous oil and oil products for long distances in arctic conditions can be economically attractive. Capsule pipeline transport could be recommended as suitable transport especially for longer distances when power consumption becomes the most important for operational cost. 

Common carrier pipelining is economically efficient transport. Using the different liquid hydrocarbons as carrier for coal pipelining, as well as common pipeline transport of oil and natural gas or encapsulated (solidified) oil in water, methanol or LNG could be prospective way for future exploitation of distant deposits, especially in arctic conditions. 

Furthermore, water transport of mixed hardwood and softwood chips causes an increase in moisture level to 65% or greater, which so degrades the LHV of the biomass that it cannot be economical for any process, such as direct combustion, that produces water vapor from water contained in the biomass. The impact on straw is greater, in that moisture levels are so high that the LHV is negative. Pipeline transport of biomass water slurries can only be utilized when produced water is removed as a liquid, such as from supercritical water gasification. 

Once the H2 is available either as a pressurized gas or as a cryogenic liquid, it still has to be stored and transported to the users. In addition to transportation and storage, there are also infrastructure expenses. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reference provides dollar cost figures per kilogram of H2 These total costs include energy, freight, labor, and capital costs and have been developed for truck, rail, ship, and pipeline transportation of both gas and LH2 at various flow rates and over a variety of... 

High energy content, low vapor pressure (200 psi), and liquid state at ambient temperatures favors low-cost liquid pipeline transportation vs. high-pressure compressed gas—1000+ psig if methane conversion is done near the production site. 

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