Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Optimizing control parameters for crude pipeline preheating

through numerical simulation
Xiaokai Xing a, *, Dan Dou b, Yutian Li a, Changchun Wu a
a
Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, 18 Fuxue Road, Changping,
Beijing 102249, PR China
b
CNODC, No.6-1 Fuchengmen Beidajie, Xicheng District, Beijing 100034, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s

< The combination of higher flow rate with lower out temperature is the best plan.
< The plan with rounds being less for alternate preheating is the best way.
< The oil-putting time is affected by many factors not just preheating parameters.
< The preheating effect can be improved by adopting varied outlet temperature.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A mathematical model is proposed to study the heat transfer and flow of a buried hot oil pipeline in
Received 22 March 2012 operation. Governing equations for thermal analyses are derived based on certain reasonable assump-
Accepted 3 August 2012 tions and solved by combining the finite volume method with the finite difference method. Our simu-
Available online 21 September 2012
lation for the preheating operation of the crude pipeline in Niger indicates that there is a good agreement
between numerical simulations and field measurement. Our study thus answers four questions about the
Keywords:
optimization of parameters for controlling the preheating process and reveals the general rules for their
Crude oil pipeline
optimization.
Preheating operation
Optimization
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Numerical simulation

1. Introduction or low-gel-point oil, efforts should be made to minimize its

More than 80% of crude oils produced in China are either waxy
crude oil with high pour points or viscous heavy crude oil [1,2]. So is
the oil from the oilfields in which the CNPC invests in Sudan, Chad
and Niger. The pour points of waxy oil are often higher than the
temperatures of the soil in the region which the pipelines traverse.
One effective way to transport such waxy oil through pipelines is to
heat it at the stations so as to decrease its viscosity and keep it
moving at a temperature above the pour point along the pipelines.
At the initial stage of operation, the pipeline and the soil outside
need preheating to build a temperature field in order to ensure the
safe operation of the pipeline. Due to the easy accessibility of water,
which has a great specific heat capacity, it is often used as the
preheating medium. But in a region short of water, low-gel-point
oil can be used for preheating if it can be produced in some block
in an oilfield. No matter whether the preheating medium is water
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 1089731967.
E-mail address: xingxk2002@cup.edu.cn (X. Xing).
consumption. The reason is that when water is used as the pre-
heating medium, water is sometimes difficult to get and waste-
water emission may cause pollution; and when low-gel-point oil is
used for preheating, its amount may often be limited by its output
from the related block.
Oil transportation through hot pipeline often consists of three
stages, i.e., preheating, normal operation and restart-up after shut
down (on account of abnormality), each accompanied by unstable
heat transfer among the atmosphere, the soil, the pipe wall, the
corrosion protective covering and the fluid within the pipeline. Bo
Yu studied the heat transfer process between the soil outside the
pipeline and the oil flow inside the pipeline in normal operation [3].
In another of his papers, Yu analyzed the heat transfer coupling
interaction between the oil products pipeline and hot crude pipe-
line which are laid in one ditch [4]. Many studies in recent years
have focused on the thaw settlement and frost heave of the crude
oil pipelines operating in cold areas [5e7]. For the restart-up
operation, most studies pay attention to the heat transfer calcula-
tion and the alternation of the physical properties of the oil within
the pipeline during the shut down [8,9], and the hydraulic

1359-4311/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.08.060
 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898 891

Nomenclature T1 temperature of the pipe wall ( C)

T2 temperature of the corrosion protective covering ( C)
A cross-section area of the pipeline (m2) Ta air temperature ( C)
C1 heat capacity of the pipe wall (J/(kg  C)) Tmax allowable maximum operational temperature of the
C2 heat capacity of the corrosion protective covering (J/ pipeline ( C)
(kg  C)) Tr i outlet temperature of the ith heating station ( C)
Cp heat capacity under constant pressure of the fluid (J/ Ts soil temperature ( C)
(kg  C)) Ty primary temperature of the soil in the position of the
Cs heat capacity of the soil (J/(kg  C)) heat-influenced radius, related to the depth ( C)
D inner diameter of the pipeline (m) Tz i inlet temperature of the ith heating station ( C)
f Darcy friction coefficient u specific energy of the fluid (J/kg)
g gravity acceleration (m/s2) V average velocity of the fluid (m/s)
Gp capacity of the pipeline (m3) x horizontal direction (m)
Gs medium total for preheating (m3) y vertical direction (m)
h specific enthalpy of the fluid (J/kg) z axial direction of the pipeline (m)
hf frictional loss of the pipeline (m) a angle between the axis of the pipeline and the
H0 buried depth of the pipeline (m) horizontal line
N number of preheating rounds in forward and inverse a0 heat transfer coefficient of the pipe flow (W/(m2  C))
alternate transportation a1 heat transfer coefficient at the ground surface (W/
p average pressure on the pipeline cross-section (Pa) (m2  C))
pmax maximum operation pressure (Pa) b expansion coefficient of the fluid ( C1)
Pmax rated power of the heating system (W) f the total amount of heat diffused from the preheating
q0 heat flux density of the fluid along the pipeline (W/m2) medium to the soil (J)
Qmax rated flow rate of the heating furnace system (m3/s) q circumferential direction
Qp flow rate of the preheating medium (m3/s) l1 thermal conductivity of the pipe wall (W/(m  C))
r radial direction (m) l2 thermal conductivity of the corrosion protective
R0 inner radius of the pipe wall (m) covering (W/(m  C))
R1 outer radius of the pipe wall (m) ls thermal conductivity of the soil (W/(m  C))
R2 outer radius of the corrosion protective covering (m) r density of the fluid (kg/m3)
Rh heat-influenced radius starting from the pipe r1 density of the pipe wall (kg/m3)
center (m) r2 density of the corrosion protective covering (kg/m3)
s elevation difference (m) rs soil density (kg/m3)
sp calculated elevation difference of the pipeline s time (s)
system (m) sv time of each inverse transportation preheating (s)
T temperature of the fluid ( C) ss total time of preheating
T0 inner wall temperature of the pipe ( C)

calculation in the process of restart-up [10e12]. For the preheating
process of the pipeline, existing studies have focused on the
calculation of preheating time [13,14] and soil temperature field
[15e17] in the process, but have not yet disclosed the general rules
of preheating operation. We decide that there are four major
questions to be addressed.
(1) At a given flow rate of the preheating medium, the maximum
thermal load of the heater may limit the maximum outlet
temperature from the heating station. Generally speaking, the
higher the flow rate, the lower the maximum outlet tempera-
ture will be allowed; and vice versa. Then how can the flow rate
and the outlet temperature be controlled to maximize the
preheating effect while minimizing the preheating time in the
preheating process?
(2) According to CNPC standards, the lowest temperature for waxy
crude pipeline transportation should be 3  C higher than the
gel-point of the oil (This will be referred to as the required
lowest temperature hereafter.). When the inlet temperature of
the preheating medium at each station reaches the required
value, can waxy oil be put into the initial station of the pipe-
line? Can the inlet temperature of the preheating medium
alone be taken as the condition for putting the oil into the
initial station?
(3) To save the amounts of the preheating medium, the mode of
alternate forward and inverse transport of the medium is often
adopted. Then, which plan will produce a better preheating
effect and satisfy the conditions for waxy oil transmission first,
the one with a longer time of one-way inverse transport (with
fewer preheating rounds in a given preheating period), or the
one with a shorter time (with more preheating rounds in
a given preheating period)?
(4) How to make full use of the thermal load of heating furnaces
and adjust the operation parameters in order to improve the
preheating effect and reduce the preheating time?
This paper will establish a mathematical model of the pre-
heating process of hot oil pipeline operation, provide calculation
methods for the model, and compare the numerical simulations
with the field measurements to verify its reliability. After analyzing
the four questions raised above, we generalize the rules of the
preheating process of hot oil pipeline.
2. Mathematical model and numerical simulation of the
buried hot oil pipeline under preheating operation
2.1. Mathematical model
The heat transfer process of a buried hot oil pipeline consists of
three stages. First, the heat is convected from the fluid flow inside
the pipeline to the internal pipe wall (In the case of pipelines
shortly after commissioning, the wax deposition is often
892 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898

neglected.). Then the heat, passing through the pipe wall and the v v
ðrAÞ þ ðrVAÞ ¼ 0 (1)
corrosion protective covering, goes to the soil. Finally, the heat vs vz
reaches the ground surface and exchanges with the atmosphere.
Since the thermo-dynamic computation for the buried hot oil vV vV 1 vp f V 2
þV ¼ gsin a   (2)
pipelines is very complex, for the convenience of solution, the vs vz r vz D 2
process of establishing the mathematical model is simplified as
follows.
 
 
v V2 v V2
ðrAÞ uþ þgs þ ðrVAÞ hþ þgs ¼ pDq0 (3)
(1) The fluid temperature on a fixed pipeline cross-section is
vs 2 vz 2
assumed to be uniform in the flow process. In other words, the The heat transfer equation of the flow can be obtained from the
fluid temperature is just the function of time and axial position. three equations listed above [18].
(2) The soil outside the pipeline is a multi-phased isotropic system
which contains solids, liquids and gases. Both conduction and dT T dp fV 3 4q
Cp  b  ¼  0 (4)
convection may contribute to heat exchange in the system. ds r ds 2D rD
Therefore, this paper will integrate the contribution of each
factor to heat exchange into the coefficient of thermal
(2) Heat transfer equations of the pipe wall and the corrosion
conduction of the soil and use the heat conduction differential
protective covering:
equation to express different forms of heat transfer.
(3) The axial temperature drop outside the pipelines is small    
vT1 1v vT 1 v vT
enough to be neglected, thus the heat conduction outside the r1 C1 ¼ l1 r 1 þ 2 l1 1 (5)
pipelines can be assumed to be two-dimensional. vs r vr vr r vq vq

   
The computational region must be determined before the vT2 1v vT 1 v vT
r2 C2 ¼ l2 r 2 þ 2 l2 2 (6)
temperature field is obtained through numerical calculation. In vs r vr vr r vq vq
theory, the computational region should be a semi-infinite soil
region. But in reality, the temperature field of the soil region closer
(3) Heat conduction equation of the soil:
to the pipeline is more sensitive to temperature in the pipeline
while that of the soil region far from the pipeline is hardly influ-    
vTs v vT v vT
enced by the pipeline temperature. This is the so-called heat- rs Cs ¼ ls s þ ls s (7)
influenced region, whose solution is shown in Fig. 1. Usually, this vs vx vx vy vy
region can be determined through either field measurements or
experimental computations. To be conservative, the scope of such (4) Matching conditions
a region can be 10 m [3,4], i.e., Rh ¼ 10 m in Fig. 1.
Based on these assumptions and simplifications, a mathematical The fluid, the pipe wall, the corrosion protective covering and
model describing the thermal system of the buried pipeline is the soil are tightly coupled for the heat transfer process, with
established as follows. substantial effects from one component on the others. Their
coupling interactions can be described with the following
(1) Heat transfer equation of the fluid flow equations.
Interface between the fluid and the pipe wall:
The mass conservation equation, momentum conservation 
equation and energy conservation equation of the fluid are listed vT1 
l1 ¼ a0 ðT  T0 Þ (8)
below [17]: vr r¼R0

Interface between the pipe wall and the corrosion protective

covering:
 
vT1  vT2 
l1 ¼ l (9)
vr r¼R1 2
vr r¼R1

T1 jr¼R1 ¼ T2 jr¼R1 (10)

Interface between the corrosion protective covering and the

soil:
 
vT2  vTs 
l2 ¼ l (11)
vr r¼R2 vr r¼R2
s

T2 jr¼R2 ¼ Ts jr¼R2 (12)

(5) Boundary conditions:

Only the right half of the computational region is taken into

Fig. 1. Sketch drawing of the computed region. consideration due to its symmetry.
 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898 893

vTs
ls ¼ 0; at x ¼ 0; 0  y  H0 R2 (13)
vx

vTs
ls ¼ 0; at x ¼ 0; H0 þ R2  y  H0 þ Rh (14)
vx

vTs
ls ¼ a1 ðTs  Ta Þ; at y ¼ 0 (15)
vy

Ts ¼ Ty ; at x2 þ ðy  H0 Þ2 ¼ R2h (16)

(6) Conditions for flow and temperature control in the preheating

process

In the preheating process, the pressure consumed by the pipe-

line must not exceed the maximum pressure it can bear, i.e.,
 
rg hf þ sp  pmax (17)

Preheating power should be lower than the rated power of the

heating furnace, i.e.,

rQp cp ðTr i  Tz i Þ  Pmax (18)

The mass flow rate should not exceed the rated flow rate of the
heater.
Fig. 2. Meshes generation of the soil region.

Qp  Qmax (19)
The outlet temperature should be lower than the maximum the temperature of 20  C, the oil density is 855 kg/m3. At the
operational temperature permitted by the pipeline. temperature of 50  C, the oil viscosity is 7.01 mPa s.
The preheating process began on October 26, 2011, through
Tr i  Tmax (20) alternate forward and inverse transport. The preheating medium
was the crude thin oil from the Sokor block, whose gel-point is
21  C. The outlet temperature, the time and the flow rate for the
forward and inverse transport preheating in the first two rounds
2.2. Numerical simulation for the model are listed in Table 1. A comparison of the actual inlet temperature
and the simulated results at each station along the pipeline is listed
Triangular meshes are applied to discretize the soil regions. The in Table 2. It can be seen that the errors in the simulated inlet
temperature gradient close the pipe center is greater while the temperature lie between 0.1 and 0.5  C, thus verifying the accuracy
further the soil region is from the pipeline, the less the soil of the numerical results.
temperature will be affected by the heated pipeline, and the lower
the temperature gradient will be. Therefore, the meshes close to the
pipeline have to be denser than those far away from it, as shown in
Fig. 2. The steel pipe and the corrosion protective covering are also
dsicretized with structured meshes in the polar coordinates, as
enlarged in Fig. 3. Testing shows that the convergence and accuracy
of the numerical results of the temperature fields are not sensitive
to the meshes. For example, calculations of the soil region using the
triangular and quadrilateral meshes produce a maximum calcula-
tion difference of only 0.08  C. FDM is adopted to discretize the
pipeline in the axial direction, as shown in Fig. 4. The second-order
FVM is used to discretize the heat exchange equation for the pipe
wall, the corrosion protective covering and the soil. The discretizing
equations are solved with the GausseSeidel method.

2.3. Verifiying the accuracy of the simulation results

Take the preheating operation of the Niger national pipeline as

an example. This CNPC-invested pipeline has a total length of
462.5 km and a diameter of 323.9 mm. One initial station, five
intermediate heating stations and one terminal station are
deployed along the pipeline. The soil around the pipeline has
a coefficient of thermal conduction of 0.8 W/m  C. The gel-point of
the waxy crude to be transported through the pipeline is 33  C. At Fig. 3. Local expanded view of the meshes generation.
894 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898

preheating medium, burns the least fuel oil and spends the shortest
time meeting the requirements of oil transport must be the best.
These three conditions, however, are difficult to satisfy at the same
time. Therefore, we assume that, with the total amounts of pre-
heating medium taken into account, the plan with the shortest time
for meeting the requirements of waxy oil transport can be regarded
as the best.
Fig. 4. Computational nodes of the pipeline.

4. Numerical results and analysis

3. The preheating plan and its evaluation
The preheating plan involves the preheating medium, the pre-
heating flow rate, the outlet temperature from each station, the
preheating time and the selection of the preheating mode.
3.1. Preheating mode, time and amounts of preheating medium
There are two modes for preheating. One is forward transport
preheating, which means that the preheating medium flows from
the initial station straightforward to the terminal to heat the soil
along the pipeline. The other is alternate forward and inverse
transport preheating, which means that after a period of forward
transport, the preheating medium is pumped from the terminal
backward to the initial station. This process thus repeated can save
the total amounts of preheating media. Sketch drawings of the two
preheating modes are shown in Fig. 5.
In forward transport preheating, when the total preheating time
is ss, the total amount of the preheating medium is:
Gs ¼ Qp ss
In alternate forward and inverse transport preheating, if the
time for forward and inverse transport in each round is equal, and
the time for inverse transport in each round is sv, then the total
amount of the preheating medium needed is:
Gs ¼ Gp þ Qp sv
If the whole preheating process requires N rounds of alternate
forward and inverse transport and ends up with forward transport,
then the total preheating time is:
Gp
ss ¼ ð2N þ 1Þsv þ
Qp
3.2. Evaluation of the preheating plan
How to evaluate whether a preheating plan for the hot oil
pipeline is good or bad? Obviously, a plan that needs the least
4.1. Optimizing the flow rate with the outlet temperature during
forward transport preheating
The heating furnaces at all the stations on the Niger pipeline
have a rated power of 3500 kW. The soil temperature where the
pipeline is buried is 31  C. Water is used as the preheating medium.
Because the inlet temperature when preheating begins is near the
original soil temperature, a flow rate of water of 182 m3/h, 158 m3/
h, 135 m3/h and 110 m3/h respectively produces a maximum outlet
temperature of 48  C, 51  C, 54  C, 59  C and 66  C at the heating
stations, limited by the rated thermal load of the heating furnace.
Now let’s address the first question raised in the Introduction:
What kind of combination between the amount of preheating
medium and the outlet temperature can minimize the preheating
time for oil input? Or, in other words, with the same period of
preheating time, which combination can better satisfy the condi-
tions for inputting the crude oil to be transported?
Fig. 6 shows the changes of the inlet temperature at the No. 2
station with the time when the preheating flow rate is 182 m3/h,
(21) the outlet temperature is 48  C, the preheating time is 350 h, the oil
runs 202 h from the initial station and the total operation time is
552 h. Here the preheating process from No. 1 to No. 2 station is
taken as an example to illustrate the rules of preheating.
It can be seen that, with water as the preheating medium, the
forward transport preheating until pipeline commissioning can fall
into three stages. The first is the preheating stage, from the start of
(22)
preheating to the time when the waxy oil enters the No. 1 station.
At this stage, the inlet temperature at the No. 2 station keeps rising
and, after 450 h of preheating, the maximum inlet water temper-
ature reaches 37.5  C. The second is the transitional stage, starting
from the arrival of the waxy oil at the No. 2 station to the departure
of the water tail from the No. 5 station, lasing 97 h. Although the
(23)
medium flowing from stations No. 1 to No. 2 now is waxy crude, its
flow rate is kept the same as the previous preheating flow rate. At
this stage, the inlet temperature at the No. 2 station begins to
decline continuously, and after 420 h, to the lowest, 36.1  C. As the
temperature fields between the stations are established and
maintained, the inlet temperature keeps rising, reaching 36.3  C at
the end of this stage. The third is a stage of normal crude oil
transportation, at a flow rate of 182 m3/h and an outlet temperature

Table 1
Preheating plan for alternate forward and inverse transport in the first two rounds.

Station First forward transportation First inverse transportation Second forward transportation Second inverse transportation

Outlet Flow rate, Operation Outlet Flow rate, Operation Outlet Flow rate, Operation Outlet Flow rate, Operation
temperature,  C m3/h time, h temperature,  C m3/h time, h temperature,  C m3/h time, h temperature,  C m3/h time, h
Initial 70.6 149 119 46.7 138 30 65.8 165 87 45.3 124 32
station
1# stat. 65.8 65.2 66.2 65.7
2# stat. 63.4 65.3 66.7 65.9
3# stat. 62.6 68.8 65 64.7
4# stat. 59.2 67.8 65 62.9
5# stat. 61.2 66.9 67.3 65.4
Terminal / 64.6 33.9 67.7
 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898 895

Table 2
Comparison of the actual inlet temperature with the simulated inlet temperature.

Station Inlet temperature at the end of Inlet temperature at the end of Inlet temperature at the end of second Inlet temperature at
first forward transportation,  C first inverse transportation,  C forward transportation,  C the end of second inverse
transportation,  C

Actual Calculated Deviation Actual Calculated Deviation Actual Calculated Deviation Actual Calculated Deviation
value value value value value value value value
Initial station / / / 46.7 47 0.3 / / / 45.3 45.8 0.5
1# sta. 34.6 34.2 0.4 44.4 44.9 0.5 35.6 35.2 0.4 43.5 44.0 0.5
2# sta. 35.4 35.1 0.3 40.7 41.0 0.3 35.5 35.1 0.4 41 41.1 0.1
3# sta. 34.1 34.3 0.2 39.9 41.1 0.2 34.4 34.1 0.3 39.5 39.9 0.5
4# sta. 33.8 34.0 0.2 39.2 39.7 0.5 34.2 34.2 0 39.4 39.7 0.3
5# sta. 32.8 33.1 0.3 38.6 39.0 0.3 33.4 33.5 0.1 39.8 40.1 0.3
Terminal 33.5 33.7 0.2 / / / 34.4 34.7 0.3 / / /

of 70  C. At this stage, the inlet temperature at the No. 2 station 1 df

TZ iþ1 ¼ TR i  (25)
keeps rising and reaches up to 37.5  C after 552 h. Qp rCp ds
Fig. 7 shows the inlet temperature at the No. 2 station corre-
sponding to different combinations of flow rates with outlet or,
temperatures after 350 h of preheating. It can be seen that, with the
Zss
full play of the thermal load, a higher preheating flow rate Cp f
TZ iþ1 ds ¼ Cp TR i  (26)
combined with a lower outlet temperature may produce a better ss Qp rss
preheating effect. Our practice shows that when the preheating 0
flow rate is 182 m3/h, the outlet temperature of water is 48  C, and
the preheating time is 450 h (according to numerous simulations), where CpTR i is the total enthalpy value in a unit-mass fluid of at the
the lowest inlet temperature in the preheating process for oil outlet of the heating station, and 4=Qp rss is the amount of heat that
inputting is 36.1  C, which is just a little higher than the required a unit-mass fluid transfers to the soil in the preheating time. The
lowest temperature for crude oil to enter the station. difference between the two is the enthalpy amount in a unit-mass
Why can a higher preheating flow rate combined with a lower fluid that enters the next station. Obviously, the greater the
outlet temperature produce a better preheating effect? According difference is, the higher the inlet temperature of the preheating
to the balanced equation for heat transfer, we have: medium will be, as shown in Fig. 8. Of the five plans, the unit-mass
fluid in Plan 1 contains a low enthalpy, but the total heat amount
that it transfers to the soil is even lower, and the difference between
the two, i.e. the enthalpy that enters the next station, reaches the
Zss
highest. Therefore, the inlet temperature of this Plan is the highest.
f¼ Qp rCp ðTR i  TZ iþ1 Þds (24)
0

Then the inlet temperature of the preheating medium is: 4.2. Conditions for crude oil inputting

Now the second question raised in the Introduction is to be

addressed: Does it entail putting the waxy oil into the initial station
when the inlet temperature of the preheating medium at each
station reaches the required lowest value? The answer is NO
because after the waxy oil enters the initial station, its inlet

Fig. 5. Sketch drawings of two preheating modes. Fig. 6. Changes of inlet temperatures at different preheating stages with the time.
896
Fig. 7. Changes of inlet temperatures with the time in five preheating plans.
temperatures at the intermediate stations may keep declining,
unable to meet the conditions for safe operations. This may occur
more easily when the medium is water. The reason is that, the
specific heat of crude being only half that of water, its temperature
may decline more rapidly when it flows at the same rate as water.
Although the inlet temperature of the preheating medium in Plans
2, 3 and 4 reaches 37.5  C, 37.1  C and 36.4  C respectively, the
corresponding lowest inlet temperature of the waxy oil is only
35.7  C, 35.2  C and 34.4  C, lower than the lowest inlet tempera-
ture 36  C required for safe operation.
Then, can the inlet temperature of the preheating medium alone
be used as the condition for putting crude oil into the initial
station? The answer is again NO. The reason is that whether waxy
oil can be put into the initial station depends not just on the pre-
heating status, but more on the control parameters while the waxy
oil is transported in the pipeline, such as its flow rate and outlet
temperature. In other words, any change in the control parameters
for the oil flow (e.g., a reduction of the flow rate) may entail
adjustment of the existing preheating plan (e.g., lengthening the
preheating time). Therefore, the operating parameters of the pre-
heating medium must satisfy the condition that the inlet temper-
ature of the waxy oil at each station is kept higher than the required
lowest temperature all the time after entering the initial station. To
meet such a condition, the preheating plan must refer to the
180 φ the one-way running time being 33 h, and the oil is put into the
160 Q p ρτ s
Enthalpy or quality of heat kJ/kg
C p τs
140
τs ∫ TZ 0
i +1 dτ
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Plan 1 Plan 2 Plan 3
Fig. 8. Heat distribution diagram of unit-mass medium in five preheating plans.
X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898
Fig. 9. Changes of inlet temperatures with the time in Plan 1.
numerical results obtained beforehand, which thus serve as the
basis for the making of the operation plan.
4.3. Optimizing the preheating plan for forward and inverse
transport
Now the third question raised in the Introduction is to be
addressed: To meet the conditions for oil inputting, which plan will
involve a shorter total preheating time, the one with a longer time
of one-way inverse transport (with fewer preheating rounds in
a given preheating period), or the one with a shorter time (with
more preheating rounds in a given preheating period)?
Suppose water is used as the preheating medium, at a flow rate
of 182 m3/h and an outlet temperature at each station of 48  C.
Three operation plans are made for comparison. In the first plan,
the amount of water inversely transported in each round is four
times the capacity of the pipeline section between two heating
stations, with the one-way running time being 132 h, and the waxy
oil is put into the initial station after one round of forward and
inverse water transport. In the second plan, the amount of water
inversely transported in each round is twice the capacity of the
pipeline section between two heating stations, with the one-way
running time being 66 h, and the oil is put into the pipeline after
two rounds of forward and inverse water transport. In the third
plan, the water inversely transported in each round is equal to the
capacity of the pipeline section between two heating stations, with
initial station after four rounds of forward and inverse water
transport. For the convenience of comparison, we suppose that all
the three plans have the same time, i.e., 260 h, for forward transport
at the first stage, after which begins inverse transport, and then
forward transport again, thus recycled, until the total preheating
time for each of the three preheating plans reaches the same, i.e.,
524 h.
Figs. 9e11 show the changes of the inlet temperature of the
preheating water at the No. 2 station in each of the three plans, with
the corresponding lowest inlet temperature of the waxy oil being
36.8  C, 36.5  C and 35.4  C respectively. Comparatively, the pre-
heating effects of the first and second plans are similar, but that of
the third is poor, unable to meet the condition for oil inputting. The
reason is that, because the time for inverse transport is relatively
Plan 4 Plan 5 short, there is a long section of cold fluid between the stations
which is inversely transported before being heated, thus difficult to
produce a good preheating effect. Our calculations reveal that if the
 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898
Fig. 10. Changes of inlet temperatures with the time in Plan 2.
third plan is to meet the condition for oil inputting, it entails ten
rounds of forward and inverse transport, until the total preheating
time reaches 920 h.
Eq. (22) shows that the total amount of the preheating medium
required for the three plans is 58,963 m3, 47,060 m3 and 41,108 m3
respectively. All factors taken into consideration, the second plan is
recommended.
If low-gel-point oil is used for preheating with forward and
inverse transport, at a flow rate of 182 m3/h and an outlet
temperature at each station of 65  C, then the demand of waxy oil
transportation can be met when the one-way inverse transport
runs 70 h and the oil is put into the initial station after two rounds
of forward and inverse transport preheating.
4.4. Preheating techniques for alternated outlet temperatures
As can be seen in the plans compared, the outlet temperature of
the preheating medium is kept at a constant. But in reality, to
improve the preheating effect and shorten the preheating time, full
use should be made of the thermal load of the heating furnace to
increase the outlet temperature with the rise of the inlet temper-
ature. When the section between stations No. 1 and No. 2 is pre-
heated, for instance, the permissible highest outlet temperature at
No. 1 can be raised with the rise of its inlet temperature. The
variations of the inlet temperature at No. 1, however, are affected by
Fig. 11. Changes of inlet temperatures with the time in Plan 3.
897
Fig. 12. Changes of inlet temperatures with the time in the case of alternated outlet
temperatures.
the preheating status between the initial and the No. 1 stations.
Therefore, to adopt the preheating techniques for alternated outlet
temperatures, an analysis of the preheating process must be made
taking the pipeline as a whole system. By simulations, a plan to
control the temperature at No. 1 station is made: At the starting
moment, the outlet temperature of the preheating medium is 48  C,
then adjusted to 50  C, 52  C and 54  C respectively after 60, 103,
and 180 h of preheating; and then, after the total preheating time
reaches 230 h, the waxy crude oil at 70  C is put into the initial
station, with the lowest inlet temperature of the crude at No. 2
reaching 36.1  C, as shown in Fig. 12. Such a plan for preheating
with alternated outlet temperatures, as compared with the Plan 1
discussed in 4.1, can reduce the preheating time by 120 h.
The alternated-temperature technique is also applicable to the
plan for forward and inverse preheating so long as there is a certain
room for the rise of the outlet temperature at the starting moment.
5. Conclusions
This paper has proposed a mathematic model for the preheating
process of waxy oil pipelines and numerical method for the model,
both of which have been applied to the actual preheating plan for
Niger national pipeline. Our numerical results well agree with the
real operation parameters. The general rules of optimizing the
governing parameters for the preheating process of hot oil pipeline
can be concluded as follows:
(1) Under the condition that the effective power of the heating
furnace gives a full play, a higher preheating flow rate at
a lower temperature produces a better preheating effect.
(2) The inlet temperature of the preheating medium alone cannot
be used as the criterion for judging whether the waxy crude oil
can be put into the pipeline for transportation. Such factors as
the medium, the plan, the temperature and the flow rate for
preheating must also be taken into consideration.
(3) In the plans of alternate forward and inverse transport pre-
heating, a longer time of one-way inverse transport (with
fewer rounds in a given preheating period) produces a better
effect if the total preheating time in different plans is the same.
(4) At the starting moment of preheating, when there is a certain
room for the rise of the outlet temperature, the outlet
temperature should be raised with the rise of its inlet
temperature, thus making full use of the effective power of the
heating furnace and improving the preheating effect.
898 X. Xing et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 51 (2013) 890e898
Acknowledgements
The study is funded by the China National Petroleum Tech-
nology Project (Nos. 2008ZX05016-003 and 2011ZX05016-004).
References
[1] J.J. Zhang, Technologies for pipelining high-pour-point and viscous crudes and
their development, Eng. Sci. 4 (2002) 71e76.
[2] T.H. Luo, Rheology and Transportation Process of Crude Oil, first ed. Petroleum
Industry Press, Beijing, 1995, pp. 36e52 (in Chinese).
[3] B. Yu, C. Li, Z.W. Zhang, et al., Numerical simulation of a buried hot crude oil
pipeline under normal operation, Appl. Therm. Eng. 30 (2010) 2670e2679.
[4] B. Yu, Y. Wang, J.J. Zhang, Thermal impact of the products pipeline on the
crude oil pipeline laid in one ditch e the effect of pipeline interval, J. Heat
Mass Transf. 51 (2008) 597e609.
[5] Y.P. Wu, Y. Sheng, Y. Wang, et al., Stresses and deformations in a buried oil
pipeline subject to differential frost heave in permafrost regions, Cold Reg. Sci.
Technol. 64 (2010) 256e261.
[6] G.Y. Li, Y. Sheng, H.J. Jin, et al., Forecasting the oil temperatures along the
proposed China-Russia Crude Oil Pipeline using quasi 3-D transient heat
conduction model, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 64 (2010) 235e242.
[7] Z. Wen, Y. Sheng, H.J. Jin, S.Y. Li, Thermal elasto-plastic computation model for
a buried oil pipeline in frozen ground, Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 64 (2010) 248e255.
[8] T. Lu, K.S. Wang, Numerical analysis of the heat transfer associated with
freezing/solidifying phase changes for a pipeline filled with crude oil in soil
saturated with water during pipeline shutdown in winter, J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 62
(2008) 52e58.
[9] D.A. Phillips, I.N. Forsdyke, I.R. McCracken, Novel approaches to waxy crude
restart: part 2: an investigation of flow events following shut down, J. Pet. Sci.
Eng. 77 (2011) 286e304.
[10] D.A. Phillips, I.N. Forsdyke, I.R. McCracken, Novel approaches to waxy crude
restart: part 1: thermal shrinkage of waxy crude oil and the impact for
pipeline restart, J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 77 (2011) 237e253.
[11] G. Vinay, A. Wachs, J.F. Agassant, Numerical simulation of weakly compress-
ible Bingham flows: the restart of pipeline flows of waxy crude oils, J. Non-
Newtonian Fluid Mech. 136 (2006) 93e105.
[12] M.R. Davidsona, Q.D. Nguyenb, C. Chang, A model for restart of a pipeline with
compressible gelled waxy crude oil, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 123 (2004)
269e280.
[13] J.T. Gu, G.Y. Ma, Determination of the time for starting oil transportation in
buried hot oil pipelines, J. Liaoning ShiHua Univ. 30 (2010) 29e31 (in
Chinese).
[14] G.Q. Chen, K.F. Ma, Z.L. Ding, et al., Thermal calculation during starting
transportation of hot crude oil pipeline, OGST 24 (2005) 13e16 (in
Chinese).
[15] T. Lu, J.S. Sun, P.X. Jiang, The influence of ambient temperature and preheating
water temperature on temperature field of soil during preheating buried hot
crude oil pipeline for startup, Acta Energiae Solaris Sin. 27 (2006) 1053e1057
(in Chinese).
[16] K. Wang, D.S. Wang, C. Sun, Calculation on positive preheating process of
buried hot oil pipelines, OGST 29 (2010) 25e27 (in Chinese).
[17] X.G. Cui, Analysis of transient hydraulic-thermal interaction during cool and
hot oil batch pipelining and its applications. PhD thesis, China University of
Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing, China, 2005 (in Chinese).
[18] H. Cui, Numerical simulation of thermodynamically transient scenarios for
a hot oil pipeline, PhD thesis, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing,
China, 2006 (in Chinese).