Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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

Evaluation of stability for flowing water-in-oil emulsion in

transportation pipeline
Si Li a, b, Kaifeng Fan a, b, *, Qiyu Huang c
a
College of Petroleum Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun, 113001, Liaoning, China
b
Institute of Petroleum Engineering Technology, Zhongyuan Oilfield, Puyang, 457001, Henan, China
c
Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion transportation technology will be applied to an old crude oil pipeline, trying to solve
Water-in-oil emulsion the operating problems caused by excessively low flow rate. To avoid intensifying internal corrosion, it needs to
Stability guarantee the full emulsification of oil and water during the whole transportation process. An experimental
Emulsified water fraction
evaluation method of stability for flowing w/o emulsion was put forward based on the operating conditions of
Shear rate
Viscosity
the oil pipeline. Firstly, w/o emulsion samples were prepared in laboratory by inverse technique to reproduce the
Cooling rate field emulsions. Furthermore, the experimental evaluation of emulsion stability was conducted in a stirring vessel
system. The experimental conditions were designed according to the thermal and shear process experienced by
the oil-water mixture. The changes of emulsified water fraction were measured to evaluate the emulsion stability
in different transportation processes. The results indicated that the emulsion stability was better under low
transportation temperature, small water fraction and low soil temperature. A field test was conducted and the
field data were able to verify the reliability of the experimental evaluation method. This research can be used to
investigate the feasibility of w/o emulsion transportation technology and help to formulate reasonable trans­
portation strategy. It can also be promoted to other oil-water transportation pipelines to judge the oil-water
emulsification states.

1. Introduction et al., 2021).

Waxy crude oil often presents high pour point due to its high wax
content. Waxes, mainly paraffins with carbon numbers of C17~C35,
gradually precipitate into wax crystals below wax appearance temper­
ature (Van Der Geest et al., 2018; Zhu et al., 2018; Mahir et al., 2019;
Olajire, 2021). When the oil temperature is below its pour point, large
amounts of wax crystals will connect with each other and adhere to the
internal surface of pipeline to form a strong three-dimensional network.
It will cause the crude oil to lose its flow ability, which is called oil
gelation (Chala et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020; Shinde and Kumar,
2021). Once it happened in a certain pipeline section, usual oil trans­
portation would be interrupted and the pipeline might even be ruptured
because of overpressure. Therefore, heating technology is usually
applied in waxy crude transportation to avoid oil gelation, and some­
times chemical treating technology with pour point depressant is used
when necessary (Li et al., 2016; Ridzuan et al., 2020; Zhapbasbayev
For many old onshore oilfields kept producing for decades, their
annual crude yields have experienced a considerable decline accompa­
nied with an increasing percentage of water in the wellstream (Xu,
2007). Consequently, the output of the dehydrated oil pipeline, from the
central gathering station to the downstream oil depot, is excessively
lower than its design level. It will result in a rapid heat loss during the
pipeline transportation (Xiao et al., 2012; Yu et al., 2014, 2020; Cao
et al., 2015; Wang and Wang, 2015). Thus, for some pipelines with
serious low-flowrate problem, the operators have to raise the inlet oil
temperature above the maximum allowable value to guarantee the oil
flow ability all through the pipeline. However, this operation not only
does harm to the pipeline insulation layer, but also reduces the economic
efficiency of pipeline transportation because of large fuel consumption.
In order to better solve the low-flowrate problem, an optimization
project is in planning stage in Zhongyuan Oilfield and a new idea of w/o
emulsion transportation is put forward. In a typical producing process of

* Corresponding author. College of Petroleum Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, West Dandong Road 1, Fushun, Liaoning Province, 113001, PR
China.
E-mail addresses: hellolisi@sina.com (S. Li), fkf5266@163.com (K. Fan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2022.110769
Received 1 November 2021; Received in revised form 9 June 2022; Accepted 13 June 2022
Available online 16 June 2022
0920-4105/© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Li et al.
a central gathering station, the gathered wellstream experienced three-
phase separation and emulsified water settlement for dehydration. As
crude oil contains some natural emulsifiers, such as asphaltenes, resins
and solid grains, w/o emulsions can be formed in different cases: during
water injection and/or water-based chemical EOR processes, due to the
presence of asphaltenes and naphthenic acids in the oil, and during the
water injection process in the presence of a surfactant and alkaline
(Kazemi Abadshapoori et al., 2018). Also, oil and water will be
completely or partially emulsified under the turbulence or mixing en­
ergy when flowing through well bores, pipelines, chocks, pumps, valves
and surface facilities (Al-Yaari et al., 2014; Wong et al., 2015; Wang
et al., 2017; Uma et al., 2018). For water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion, emul­
sified water is difficult to remove because of the stability of oil-water
interface. Therefore, heating, electric dehydration, demulsifying agent
treating and other methods are usually applied in the emulsified water
settlement process. In the w/o emulsion transportation of this project,
only free water and part emulsified water will be removed in three-phase
separator. The settlement process of the residual emulsified water will
be left out. Thus, the crude oil will carry some emulsified water into the
transportation pipeline, which can increase the pipeline output and
reduce the temperature drop. For metal pipelines without anti-corrosive
internal coating, it is necessary to guarantee the complete emulsification
of w/o emulsion during transportation, because free water settlement
will intensify internal corrosion. It is generally believed that the for­
mation of a fully covered oil film can prevent corrosion, because the oil
wetting state can separate water phase from steel surface (Wang et al.,
2014; Wang and Zhang, 2016). Therefore, the stability of w/o emulsion
under flowing conditions is crucial for w/o emulsion pipeline
transportation.
The stability of w/o emulsion is mainly related to the nature of oil-
water interface. The stabilizing mechanisms of w/o emulsion include
steric stabilization, Marangoni-Gibbs effect, rigid film formation, etc.
The stability is usually improved in the presence of surfactants, poly­
mers, inorganic salts or a combination of them (Ismail et al., 2020).
Besides the composition and properties of oil and water phases, the
stability is also greatly influenced by mixing conditions (Kumar et al.,
2001; Nour et al., 2008; Czarnecki, 2009; Pal, 2011), and the current
research is mainly focused on the static stability after emulsion prepa­
ration. Thermodynamically, w/o emulsion is an unstable system and the
two phases will eventually separate in a stationary state. In general, with
the increase of water fraction, the emulsion stability is on the decline
(Abdurahman et al., 2012; Binner et al., 2014). Preparation temperature
can make the stability of most crude oil emulsions drops rapidly
(Hempoonsert et al., 2010; Martinez-Palou et al., 2013; Binner et al.,
2014). However, in some cases, the temperature may result in the in­
crease of the building rate of the interfacial film and the structure of the
interfacial film has a tendency to increase, making the stability of the
emulsion enhanced (Zaki, 1997; Binks and Rocher, 2009) Some re­
searchers pointed out that stronger shear strength can enhance the
emulsion stability (Zaki, 1997; Abdurahman et al., 2012; Wang et al.,
2017). However, some other studies found that the emulsion stability
grows with the increase of shear strength at the beginning, but when the
shear strength is above a certain critical value, the emulsion stability
will decline (Djenouhat et al., 2008; Vilasau et al., 2011).
For the multiphase flow pipelines in oil field, it is of great importance
to master the emulsion stability under different operating conditions.
W/o emulsion can remain fully or partially emulsified under certain
flowing conditions, because the dispersion and coalescence of water
droplets may achieve a balance under the shear effect in pipeline
flowing. There exists a critical value of water fraction, dividing full or
partial emulsification under a certain flowing condition. When the total
water fraction is lower than this value, the oil and water in w/o emulsion
can maintain fully emulsified. Otherwise, there will be a proportion of
water that unable to be emulsified into oil phase or gradually separates
from the previously formed w/o emulsion. Emulsified water fraction is
closely related to the temperature and shear rate in flowing, and also
2
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
influenced by the compositions and properties of the oil and water
phases (Wen et al., 2014, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2019; Cui et al., 2019). In
the research of Wen et al. (2014), the emulsification behaviors of crude
oil-water systems were studied using a stirred vessel system. The effects
of mean shear rate, water fraction and temperature on the emulsified
water fraction under flowing conditions were investigated. It was re­
ported that when the water fraction was less than a critical value, the
water phase will be fully emulsified in a certain range of shear rate.
However, both above and below the shear rate range, only part of the
water phase could be emulsified (Wen et al., 2014, 2019). For partial
emulsification, the emulsified water fraction was found to well correlate
with the entropy production rate of viscous flow (Wen et al., 2019). A
power-law correlation was established to describe their relation and this
correlation was workable in different mixing conditions (Wen et al.,
2019). Furthermore, the effect of the components in oil and water phases
on emulsification properties were analyzed, including the content of
asphaltenes and resins, the total concentration of precipitated wax and
mechanical impurities, acid number, the average carbon number of
crude oil and water salinity (Wen et al., 2015, 2016a). Cui et al. (2019)
found that for partial-emulsified oil-water mixtures, the emulsified
water fraction increased with the growth of water salinity, shear rate
and emulsifier content, and decreased with the increase of temperature.
A correlation was established to describe the relationship of free water
separation rate and these factors.
At present, there are stirring method, viscometer method and flow
loop method to research the emulsion stability under flowing conditions.
Li et al. (2005) used blender to stir w/o emulsions and observed whether
there was free water during this process. They used different stirring
speeds to produce the shear effects of pump and pipe flow, but the
determination of stirring speed was not based on rigorous calculation. Li
et al. (2008) studied the apparent viscosity of oil-in-water (o/w) emul­
sion though a rotational viscometer. They obtained the change of vis­
cosity with time period to characterize the dynamic stability under
different test temperatures and shear rates. However, they did not relate
the experimental conditions with the field flowing conditions. Shi et al.
(2018) analyzed the influences of water content, shear rate, temperature
and pressure on the microscopic characteristics of w/o emulsion on a
flow loop with online particle size analyzer. It indicated that water
droplets were smaller and more uniform under lower water content,
lower pressure, higher shear rate and higher temperature, and it was
deduced that w/o emulsion was more stable under these flowing con­
ditions. They established models to describe the relationship of droplet
size distribution with several flowing parameters, while it only reflected
the emulsion stability indirectly. Overall, these present methods are able
to obtain the influencing tendency of flowing parameters on the emul­
sion stability, but their experimental conditions cannot truly correspond
with the flowing conditions of an actual transportation pipeline.
Therefore, it is necessary to explore an experimental method that can
reproduce the thermal and shearing effects during the transportation
process in the surface facilities.
In this paper, an experimental evaluation method of emulsion sta­
bility under flowing conditions was put forward based on the operating
conditions of an actual low-flowrate oil pipeline. The experimental
process of emulsion stability was designed according to the field thermal
and shear process that the oil-water mixture experienced in the surface
facilities. Field data were used to verify the reliability of this experi­
mental evaluation method. It can be applied to similar oil-water two-
phase pipelines to evaluate the emulsion stability and to determine the
water fraction limitation of full emulsification.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The oil-water mixture used in the experiment was collected from the
entry position of the central gathering station in Zhongyuan Oilfield of
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

Table 1
Basic properties of Zhongyuan Crude Oil.
Pour point/ Density at 20 ◦ C/ Viscosity at 45 ◦ C/ Wax appearance Wax/wt. Asphaltenes/wt. Resins/wt. Initial distillation point/
◦
C kg⋅m− 3 mPa⋅s temperature/◦ C % % % ◦
C

34 862.0 18.8 50.7 24.1 1.6 8.0 76

Table 2
Quality testing results of produced water.
Ca2+/ Cl− / SO2−
4 / Mg2+/ HCO−3 / K+ and Na+/ Total mineralization/ Water pH Ferric ion/ Bacteria/
mg⋅L− 1 mg⋅L− 1
mg⋅L− 1 mg⋅L− 1 mg⋅L− 1 mg⋅L− 1 mg⋅L− 1 type mg⋅L− 1 N⋅mL− 1
∑
Fe3+ Fe SRB TGB

7882 118,167 484 612 285 66,805 194,234 CaCl2 6.0 0.44 31.93 0 10

Fig. 1. Experimental design according to the transportation process in field.

China. Firstly, free water was separated from the oil-water mixture.
After the follow-up experimental analysis of the emulsion, the emulsi­
fied water was removed by distillation method and its volume fraction
was tested to be 24%. The basic properties of dehydrated crude oil and
the quality testing result of produced water are shown in Tables 1 and 2,
respectively.
From Table 2, it can be seen that the produced water is highly saline
water. Its presence may increase the occurrence of pipeline corrosion.
Fortunately, it is generally believed that a fully covered oil film on the
inner face of a pipeline can effectively prevent corrosion. The oil film is
able to separate the water phase from steel surface and keep it in an oil
wetting state. Thus, it is necessary to guarantee the stability of w/o
emulsion during the transportation process to avoid internal corrosion,
and the experimental evaluation in this study is meaningful.
The goal of the experimental design was to reproduce the thermal
and shear history experienced by the w/o emulsions before and during
pipeline transportation at site, and to evaluate the emulsion stability in
pipeline transportation under different operating conditions. First of all,
w/o emulsion samples were prepared in laboratory by inverse technique
to reproduce the field emulsions with different water fractions. Then, the
thermal and shear history of emulsion, when flowing through the
heating furnace and the centrifugal pump of the central gathering sta­
tion, was recreated by heating and high-speed stirring in a stirring tank
system. After that, the flow process of oil-water mixture in the trans­
portation pipeline was simulated by cooling and low-speed shearing in
the stirring tank. In this process, the emulsion stability was checked for
several times by observing in different temperature intervals.

2.3. Preparation of w/o emulsions by inverse technique

2.2. Experimental design
The experiment was designed according to the transportation pro­
cess in field, as shown in Fig. 1. In the old oilfield, the wellstreams from
different wells are gathered with single-well pipes and transported to the
central gathering station after production metering. In the idea of w/o
emulsion transportation, only free water and part emulsified water will
be removed in the central gathering station, and crude oil will discharge
from the three-phase separator carrying emulsified water. Then, w/o
emulsion will flow into the heating furnace and be heated to the pipeline
inlet temperature. After that, the w/o emulsion will be pressurized by
the centrifugal pump into the pipeline. In the process of pipeline
transportation, the fluid will dissipate heat to the environment and the
fluid temperature will decrease gradually. Meanwhile, the oil-water
mixture will be sheared in the pipe flow. Finally, it will enter the oil
depot for the subsequent dehydration and crude oil stabilization treat­
ment before storage.
In this study, “inverse technique” refers to the emulsion preparation
method used in laboratory. This method was used to prepare emulsion
sample as close to the field sample as possible. In the beginning, different
stirring speeds were tried to prepare emulsion samples. Then, the vis­
cosity and microscopic characteristics of these samples were compared
with those of the field emulsions. The stirring speed of the closest sample
was determined as the stirring speed in laboratory. It is a deduction
method from field back to laboratory, so it is called inverse technique.
2.3.1. Determination of preparation conditions
The agitator used in emulsion preparation was an IKA RW20 Digital
equipped with a four-leaf 45◦ propeller with the diameter of 50 mm. The
emulsification was conducted in a glass beaker with the capacity of 400
mL and the total volume of the oil-water mixture was kept at 200 mL in
each preparation. All water phase was added into oil phase in one time
before stirring and the stirring process lasted for 10 min. The

3
S. Li et al.
Fig. 2. Experimental device of the emulsion stability evaluation.
preparation temperature was set at the average wellhead temperature of
40 ◦ C.
The stability of emulsions is closely related to mixing time, temper­
ature and speed. The goal of this step was to prepare emulsion samples
as close to the field ones as possible. The mixing conditions in lab were
quite different from the field conditions. The characteristics of prepared
emulsion in lab reflected the comprehensive influences of mixing time,
temperature and speed. Thus, here the mixing time and temperature
were fixed and the stirring speed was determined by inverse technique.
As long as the prepared sample was close to the field emulsion with
similar viscosity-temperature relationship and microscopic characteris­
tics, it was reasonable to deem that the stability of prepared samples was
very close to the on-site ones. However, it may not be applicable to
directly compare the stirring conditions in lab with the real conditions at
site.
None surfactants were added in emulsion preparation. It is because
that crude oil contains some natural emulsifiers, such as asphaltenes,
resins and solid grains. Besides, crude oil may contain some chemicals
injected in reservoir for the enhanced oil recovery, such as polymers.
These substances act as surfactants that promote emulsification and
stabilization. In addition to this, produced water contains some inor­
ganic salts which can lower the interfacial tension between oil and
water. Therefore, oil and water can still be emulsified without addition
of any surfactants.
In order to reproduce the field emulsions, different stirring speeds
were tried in the preparation of w/o emulsions with the water fraction of
24 vol % in the beginning. Then, the rheological and microscopic
properties of these emulsions were analyzed and compared with the
properties of the field emulsion with the water fraction of 24 vol % in
Section 3.1. The emulsion with the closest properties was selected and
its stirring speed was determined as the preparation speed in the sub­
sequent emulsion preparation. It was considered that this preparation
speed could simulate the comprehensive shearing effect in the formation
process of the field emulsions, and it could also be used to prepared the
field emulsions with other water fractions. The stirring speeds for se­
lection were 500 r⋅min− 1, 1000 r⋅min− 1 and 1500 r⋅min− 1.
2.3.2. Rheological measurements
The pour point test of w/o emulsions was conducted according to
ASTM D5853-11. The apparatus type was the DT-4003C produced by
Dalian Datang Scientific Instruments Co., Ltd.
Table 3
Basic information of oil transportation pipeline.
Length Outer Wall Buried Soil
/km diameter thickness depth temperature
/mm /mm /m /◦ C
17.5 159 6 1.5 8–20
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
The viscosity-temperature relationship measurement was conducted
according to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry Standards of the
People’s Republic of China SY/T 0520–2008, and the detailed test
procedure can be found in our previous work (Li et al., 2014). The type
of the experimental instrument was the Rheolab QC rheometer from
Anton Paar with a Julabo-F32 cycling water bath for temperature
control.
2.3.3. Microscopic observation of droplet size distribution
The observation of droplet size distribution was conducted on a
Nikon OPTIPHOT2-POL polarizing microscope, equipped with a Linkam
PE60 heating and cooling stage and a CoolSNAP 3.3 M digital camera
from Roper Scientific. Micrographs were processed and analyzed by
Image J, a professional software widely used for graph processing and
analysis. The process of microscopic observation, graph processing and
data analysis was described in detail in our previous work (Li et al.,
2015).
2.4. Experimental evaluation of emulsion stability
2.4.1. Experimental device
The diagram of the experimental system was shown in Fig. 2, mainly
consisting of the following parts. The container of oil-water mixture was
a sealed stirring tank with the diameter of 75 mm and the height of 105
mm. The temperature control apparatus was a DC-2015 digital circu­
lating water bath from Ningbo Xinzhi and its effective temperature
control range was 5–90 ◦ C. The stirring system included an IKA RW20
Digital agitator with the stirring speed range of 10–2000 r⋅min− 1 and a
four-leaf 45◦ propeller with the diameter of 60 mm. Besides, the agitator
was equipped with a torquemeter with the measurement accuracy of
0.01 N cm. The free water metering instrument was a conical measuring
flask in a HH-1 thermostatic water bath.
2.4.2. Experimental procedure
The experimental procedure reproduced the thermal and shear
process experienced by the on-site w/o emulsions, and evaluated the
emulsion stability under different operating conditions. At the begin­
ning, the temperature of the stirring tank was raised to the temperature
of the heating furnace, and the prepared w/o emulsion sample was
poured into the stirrer tank holding for 1 min to reproduce the heating
process in the central gathering station. Then, the emulsion was stirred
with high stirring speed in tank to recreate the shear effect of the cen­
trifugal pump. Under low-flowrate working condition, the centrifugal
pump shear rate was generally in the range of 2000–3500 s− 1 and the
residence time was short in a range of 0.5–3 s (Wang et al., 2016a,
2016b). The computation of the stirring speed was 4000–7200 r⋅min− 1
performed according to the method provided by Zhang et al. (Zhang
et al., 2002, 2003; Lei et al., 2019). In this experiment, a lower stirring
speed of 1950 r⋅min− 1 and a longer residence time of 10 s were used due
to the restriction of instrument. After that, the emulsion in the stirring
tank was cooled at a certain cooling rate, and meanwhile the emulsion
was stirred by a certain stirring speed. In this step, the cooling rate and
the stirring speed were determined by calculation according to the
pipeline operating conditions. In order to obtain the oil-water emulsi­
fication condition along the pipeline, this stirring and cooling process
was divided into several temperature intervals. When it was cooled to
the final temperature of each interval, the valve below the stirring tank
was open and the oil-water mixture was released into the conical
External anti-corrosion coating Output/ × 104 t⋅a− 1
Overall heat transfer
material coefficient
Designed Actual
/W⋅◦ C− 1⋅ m− 2
petroleum bitumen 45 15.7 1.40
4
S. Li et al.
Fig. 3. Viscosity-temperature curves of different emulsion samples. (a) on-site emulsion, (b) stirring speed of 500 r⋅min− 1, (c) stirring speed of 1000 r⋅min−
stirring speed of 1500 r⋅min− 1.
measuring flask. The amount of free water was metered by observation
to evaluate the oil-water emulsification condition. The above steps were
repeated until reaching the pipeline outlet temperature.
2.4.3. Determination of the experimental temperature conditions
The basic information of the oil transportation pipeline is shown in
Table 3. Firstly, the allowable temperature range of pipeline trans­
portation was determined according to the current standards and spec­
ifications of China. According to the State Standard of the People’s
Republic of China GB 50253–2014, if the crude oil is heated by a heating
furnace before pressurized by a centrifugal pump, the heating temper­
ature should not be higher than its initial distillation point. Meanwhile,
according to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry Standards of the
People’s Republic of China SY/T 0420–1997, the transportation tem­
perature of the buried steel pipeline with petroleum bitumen anticor­
rosive coating should not exceed 80 ◦ C. Besides, according to the
Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry Standards of the People’s Republic
of China SY/T 5536–2016, the minimum outlet temperature of a heating
oil pipeline should be at least 3 ◦ C higher than the pour point of crude
oil. In order to ensure the safety of pipeline transportation, the
maximum allowable inlet temperature was determined at 75 ◦ C, and the
minimum allowable outlet temperature was 5 ◦ C higher than the pour
point of crude oil or w/o emulsion. The current oil output is about 21 m3
h− 1, only 34.9% of the designed value. Considering that the future oil
production will decline further, the maximum oil output used in the
experiment was set to 20 m3 h− 1.
Then, the fluid temperature changes along the pipeline were calcu­
lated under different operating conditions. For this low-flowrate pipe­
line, its flow rate was low and its temperature drop was relatively large.
Besides, its length was not very long and its diameter was relatively
small compared with other long-distance oil transportation pipelines.
5
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
1
and (d)
The effect of frictional heat in the pipeline like this is usually ignored
and the temperature change is usually calculated with Sukhov correla­
tion in Eq. (1). The specific heat capacity of w/o emulsion can be
calculated by the mixing rule in Eq. (2).
( )
K πD
TL = T0 + (TR − T0 )exp − L (1)
cG
c = co (1 − φ) + cw φ (2)
The overall heat transfer coefficient in Table 3 is a comprehensive
parameter that considers the heat dissipation process from oil to the
inner surface of pipeline, the heat conduction of the pipe wall (including
insulation layer) and the heat dissipation process from the outer surface
of pipeline to the surroundings. In this study, it was obtained by
calculation according to the deformation of Eq. (1) based on the field
temperature data of this pipeline in long-time running. The calculation
process of the overall heat transfer coefficient is shown in Appendix A.
2.4.4. Determination of the stirring speed
Calculation of the average shear rate of the fluid in pipeline
transportation. In pipe flow, the shear rates at different radial locations
are not the same, so it is difficult to calculate the average shear rate of
the fluid. One traditional method is to conduct integral calculation in a
cross section and then divided by the section area. However, it is not
advisable because shear effect should not be evaluated based on area.
Furthermore, the shear rate at any specific location is not suitable to
replace the average shear rate.
A method for calculating average shear rate based on the volumet­
rically average energy dissipation rate was presented by Zhang and Yan
(2002). It was put forward based on the relationship between the shear
rate and the energy dissipation rate. Energy dissipation rate is the
S. Li et al.
Fig. 4. Droplet size distributions of emulsion samples collected at site and
prepared in laboratory with different stirring speeds.
conversion rate of the fluid mechanical energy into heat energy of unit
volume or mass of fluid in viscous flow, so it is reasonable to calculate its
average value in unit volume. In turbulence, due to the high mixing
degree of fluid micelles, the average shear rate calculated from the
volume average energy dissipation rate can be reasonable to reproduce
the shear history. In this experiment, the average shear rate of the fluid
in each temperature interval was calculated by Eq. (3) ~ (5) (Zhang and
Yan, 2002), and the fluid flowing properties, such as viscosity, took the
values at the average temperature of the temperature interval.
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2f ρv3
γ̇ 1 = (3)
μd
a
f= (4)
RebMR
ρdn v2− n
ReMR = k( 6n+2)n (5)
8 n
ρdv
For Newtonian fluids, k = μ, n = 1, and ReMR is reverted to Re = μ .
When the fluid is in laminar flow (Re < 2000), a = 16, b = 1. In the
hydraulically smooth region (2000 < Re < 105), for Newtonian fluids, a
= 0.0791, b = 0.250. And for non-Newtonian fluids, a and b are related
with n and calculated by Dodge-Metzner method.
Calculation of experimental stirring speed. The average shear rate
in the stirring tank can be calculated by Eq. (6), which was deduced
according to the relationship of the energy dissipation rate with the
shear rate in the fluid flow (Zhang et al., 2003; Yu et al., 2013). In order
to reproduce the shearing effect of the pipe flow, it was necessary to
make γ̇2 in Eq. (6) equal to γ̇1 in Eq. (3), so there was Eq. (7).
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
2πMN
γ̇ 2 = (6)
μV
MN =
f ρv3 V
(7)
πd
First of all, the unknown variables to the right of the equal sign in Eq.
(7) were calculated according to an actual pipeline operating condition.
Thus, the function curve of M1~N under a certain shear rate could be
obtained. Then, the output torques corresponding to different stirring
speeds in the stirring tank were calibrated by experiments at the average
temperature of a certain temperature interval. Thus, the function curves
of M2~N under different experimental temperatures were established.
6
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
In order to determine the stirring speed required in the experiment to
achieve the shear rate in the pipe flow, the two function curves under the
same operating condition were plotted on one graph. The value of N
corresponding to the intersection point was the experimental stirring
speed that could attain the average shear rate of fluid in this temperature
interval (Jia, 2017).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Preparation conditions of w/o emulsion sample in laboratory
3.1.1. Comparison of viscosity-temperature curves
It was obtained from the test results that the pour points of all the
emulsions (water fraction of 24 vol %) prepared by different stirring
speeds were 35 ◦ C, which were consistent with the pour point of the on-
site emulsion sample.
The comparison of the viscosity-temperature curves of the on-site
emulsion and the samples prepared with different stirring speeds in
laboratory is shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed that the viscosity-
temperature curve of the w/o emulsion prepared at 1000 r⋅min− 1 was
closest to the curve of the on-site emulsion, with an average deviation of
7.8%. It meant that the shear strength at this speed dispersed water
phase into a state quite close to the field emulsion, as was reflected in the
macroscopic viscosity data. When the preparation speed was 500
r⋅min− 1, the abnormal point of the emulsion sample was 42 ◦ C, which
was about 3 ◦ C lower than that of the field emulsion. Meanwhile, the
viscosity data in the non-Newtonian fluid area were significantly lower
with an average deviation of 24.5%. It indicated that the stirring
strength was less than the shear strength in the formation of the field
emulsion, so the prepared emulsion structure was looser and the non-
Newtonian characteristics were weaker. Under the stirring speed of
1500 r⋅min− 1, the emulsion viscosity was obviously higher than that of
the field emulsion, with an average deviation of 39.3%. It was because
the speed was so high that the emulsion structure was denser and its
non-Newtonian characteristics were enhanced.
3.1.2. Comparison of droplet size distribution
The comparison of the droplet size distributions of different w/o
emulsions is shown in Fig. 4. It can be obtained that the shape of the
frequency curve of the emulsion prepared under 1000 r⋅min− 1 was the
most similar to that of the field emulsion, with the average deviation of
12.3%. The average deviations of the emulsions prepared under 500
r⋅min− 1 and 1500 r⋅min− 1 were 23.7% and 14.7%, respectively. This
was consistent with the previous analysis of the viscosity-temperature
relationship. Therefore, 1000 r⋅min− 1 was determined as the prepara­
tion stirring speed of the w/o emulsions in laboratory. It could recreate
the comprehensive shearing effect in the emulsion formation at site and
reproduce emulsions with similar macro and micro characteristics.
Here, it is worthy to note again that the mixing conditions in lab were
quite different from the field conditions and other factors (such as
temperature and mixing time period) would also influence emulsion
formation. So, it may not be applicable to compare the stirring speed in
lab with the real shear intensity at site. Our goal was to prepare emulsion
as close to the field sample as possible, and the experimental results
indicated 1000 r⋅min-1 was suitable for emulsion preparation under the
conditions in laboratory. However, it did not mean 1000 r⋅min-1 was the
actual stirring intensity when the field emulsion formed.
3.1.3. Properties of w/o emulsions with different water fractions
Using the determined preparation conditions, w/o emulsions with
different water volume fractions of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% were
prepared. Their pour points and viscosity-temperature curves were
measured. The pour point of the emulsion with a water fraction of 10 vol
% was 34 ◦ C, the same with the dehydrated oil. The pour points of the
emulsions with water fractions of 20 vol % and 24 vol % were both
35 ◦ C. When the water fraction increased to 30 vol % and 40 vol %, the
S. Li et al.
Fig. 5. Viscosity data of emulsion samples with the water volume fractions of (a) 10%, (b) 20, (c) 30% and (d) 40% prepared in laboratory.
pour points changed to 36 ◦ C. It meant that the pour point of w/o
emulsion gradually increased with the increase of water fraction.
Correspondingly, the minimum allowable outlet temperature of the
pipeline needed to be raised by 1–2 ◦ C in order to avoid the gelation of
w/o emulsion.
Based on the viscosity-temperature curves, w/o emulsions were
power-law fluid in the temperature range of non-Newtonian fluid. At a
same temperature, the relationship between apparent viscosity and
shear rate was consistent with Eq. (8). For different emulsions, the
rheological parameters in Eq. (8) were fitted based on the obtained
viscosity-temperature curves. Then, the viscosity data at different tem­
peratures were calculated within the shear rate range of pipeline
transportation, as shown in Fig. 5. With the increase of water fraction,
the viscosity of w/o emulsion becomes higher, especially in the low
temperature range.
μ = kγ̇1− n
(8)
3.2. Experimental temperature conditions
The temperature drop curves under different operating conditions
were obtained and the influences of these operating conditions were
illustrated in Fig. 6. If a temperature drop curve was divided into several
temperature intervals, the pipeline could be correspondingly divided
into several pipeline sections. Then, the flowing time duration needed in
each pipeline section was calculated and thus the average cooling rate of
each temperature interval could be obtained, as shown in Table 4.
As can be seen from Fig. 6 (a) and Table 4, when the water volume
fraction increased, the total output became larger, so did the fluid flow
rate. Meantime, the specific heat capacity of oil-water mixture was
higher than that of crude oil. Therefore, the fluid temperature at the
pipeline outlet increased and the average cooling rate within a same
temperature interval declined. In Fig. 6 (b), if the inlet temperature was
reduced, the fluid temperature at the pipeline outlet grew accordingly.
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
Furthermore, due to the smaller temperature difference between the
fluid and the ambient, the cooling rate within a same temperature in­
terval decreased, while this change was not significant. In addition,
when the soil temperature became lower as shown in Fig. 6 (c), the
temperature difference between the fluid and the ambient was larger, so
the cooling rate along the pipeline was accelerated and the outlet tem­
perature dropped. As to Fig. 6 (d), when the crude oil output decreased,
the fluid flow rate descended. The outlet temperature became lower and
the cooling rate decreased within a same temperature interval, but the
difference was quite small.
3.3. Experimental stirring speed
3.3.1. Average shear rate of the fluid in pipeline transportation
The effects of different operating conditions on the average shear
rate of fluid are shown in Fig. 7. As the fluid temperature gradually
decreased during pipeline transportation, the viscosity of w/o emulsion
increased. Although Re also became smaller and led to a higher f, the
increase of emulsion viscosity exerted a larger influence, so the average
shear rate gradually declined along the pipeline. In Fig. 7 (a), when the
water volume fraction in pipeline increased, the growths in the w/o
emulsion viscosity and flow rate were the main reasons for the increase
of the average shear rate. As observed in Fig. 7 (b), the difference in inlet
temperatures only changed the average fluid temperatures of the first
and the last temperature intervals, so only the average shear rates in the
first or last intervals were different. Similarly in Fig. 7 (c), the average
shear rates in a same temperature interval were almost unchanged under
different soil temperatures except for the last one or two temperature
intervals, because the average shear rate was only related to the average
temperature. When other conditions remained the same, different soil
temperatures only caused different outlet temperatures. When the oil
output decreased, as shown in Fig. 7 (d), the fluid flow rate became
smaller leading to a decline in the average shear rate.
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

Fig. 6. Influences of different operating conditions on the fluid temperature along the pipeline: (a) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and inlet
temperature of 75 ◦ C, (b) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and water fraction of 30 vol %, (c) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, inlet temperature of 75 ◦ C and
water fraction of 30 vol %, (d) inlet temperature of 75 ◦ C, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and water fraction of 20 vol %.

Table 4
Experimental temperature parameters of oil-water emulsifying condition in pipeline.
Oil output/m3⋅h− 1
Soil temperature/◦ C Inlet temperature/◦ C Water fraction/vol. % Cooling rate/◦ C⋅h− 1

>65 ◦ C 65–55 ◦ C 55–45 ◦ C <45 ◦ C

20 14 75 20 3.69 3.02 2.36 1.95

18 8 75 30 3.60 3.03 2.46 2.09
14 75 20 3.58 2.94 2.31 1.83
30 3.22 2.66 2.10 /
40 2.93 2.42 2.04 /
70 30 3.13 2.69 2.10 1.74
65 30 / 2.64 2.06 1.65
20 75 30 2.90 2.31 1.81 /
16 14 75 20 3.53 2.94 2.26 1.70

3.3.2. Experimental stirring speed
The function curves of M1~N corresponding to the emulsions with
the water fraction of 20% in Fig. 7 (a) are illustrated in Fig. 8. Fig. 9
presents the calibration results of M2~N corresponding to the conditions
in Fig. 8.
In order to determine the stirring speed required in the experiment to
achieve the shear rate in the pipe flow, as shown in Fig. 10, the two
function curves under the same operating condition were plotted on one
graph. The value of N corresponding to the intersection point was the
experimental stirring speed that could attain the average shear rate of
fluid in this temperature interval.
3.4. Emulsified water fraction under different transportation conditions
When the temperature of the oil-water mixture reached the final
temperature of each temperature interval, the mixture was released into
the conical measuring flask to measure the amount of free water sepa­
rated. Thus, the oil-water emulsification condition in this interval could
be evaluated.
The photos of the measurement of free water amount in two typical
operating conditions are shown in Fig. 11. Under the conditions shown
in Fig. 11 (a), there was only a trace of free water at the bottom of the
measuring flasks in the test of different final temperatures. It was the
water phase that could not be emulsified in the initial emulsion prepa­
ration process, which was usual to occur in the emulsion preparation in
laboratory. Considering that the free water amounts did not exceed 0.5%
of the total fluid volume, they could be negligible. It indicated that the
w/o emulsion remained full emulsification throughout the pipeline
transportation process.
In the conditions shown in Fig. 11(b), as the emulsion flowed

8
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

Fig. 7. Influences of different operating conditions on the average shear rate along the pipeline: (a) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and inlet
temperature of 75 ◦ C, (b) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and water fraction of 30 vol %, (c) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, inlet temperature of 75 ◦ C and
water fraction of 30 vol %, (d) inlet temperature of 75 ◦ C, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C and water fraction of 20 vol %.

Fig. 9. M2~N curves of the fluid in stirring tank under experi­

Fig. 8. M1~N curves under different average shear rates in pipeline. mental conditions.

through the pipeline, the dispersed water droplets experienced collision
and coalescence, gradually separating from the oil phase as more and
more free water. Similar to other cases in which the emulsion could not
remain stable, it was found that the water phase began to separate at the
highest temperature interval and the free water could not be emulsified
again once separated. If the emulsion remained stable at the highest
temperature interval, the oil and water could remain fully emulsified
during the whole transportation process.
Based on the obtained amount of free water, the emulsified water
fraction could be calculated. The results of the emulsified water fraction
along the pipeline under several different transportation conditions are
shown in Table 5. The emulsion stability was better under low inlet
temperature, small water fraction and low soil temperature. In the
premise of safe transportation, from the point of view of avoiding in­
ternal corrosion, a low inlet temperature and a small water fraction
should be used to ensure the full emulsification of oil and water. In order
to determine the upper limits of full emulsified water fraction, the ex­
periments were conducted with more precise water fractions. The upper
limits of full emulsified water fraction were 24–26% and 30–32% when
the inlet temperatures were 75 ◦ C and 65 ◦ C, respectively, and the

9
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

influence of soil temperature and oil output were not so considerable.

3.5. Pressure drop of the pipeline

The pressure drop caused by friction loss is calculated by Darcy-

Weisbach formular in Eq. (9).

dP ρv2
=λ (9)
dL 2d
When the fluid is in laminar flow (Re < 2000), λ = 64
Re
. Eq. (9) is
64μv
converted to =dP
dL d2
.
In the hydraulically smooth region of Newtonian fluids, Blasius
formular λ = 0.3164Re− 0.25 is used when 2000 < Re < 105. Eq. (9) is
0.25 1.75 0.75
0.1582μ v ρ
converted to dP
dL = d1.25
. For non-Newtonian fluids, λ = 4fand f
is calculated by Dodge-Metzner method. Pressure drop is also the
function of fluid viscosity, velocity and density.
Fig. 10. Determination of stirring speed in experiment.
In w/o emulsion transportation, the density and velocity of w/o
emulsion are both higher than those of crude oil due to the maintain of

Fig. 11. Photos of the measurements of free water amount at the operating conditions of (a) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 14 ◦ C, inlet temperature of
75 ◦ C and water fraction of 20% and (b) oil output of 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature of 8 ◦ C, inlet temperature of 75 ◦ C and water fraction of 30%.

Table 5
Emulsified water fractions along the pipeline under different operating conditions.
Output/m3⋅h− 1
Soil temperature/◦ C Inlet temperature/◦ C Water fraction/vol. % Emulsified water fraction/vol. %

75/70 ◦ C 65 ◦ C 55 ◦ C 45 ◦ C <45 ◦ C

20 14 75 20 20 20 20 20 20
18 8 75 30 29.8 20.5 16.7 14.1 8.5
14 75 20 20 20 20 20 20
30 30 19.5 15.2 12.5 /
40 40 28.1 22.6 / /
70 30 30 25.2 20.4 17.3 13.7
65 30 / 30 30 30 30
20 75 30 30 19.3 13.3 10.0 4.7
16 14 75 20 20 20 20 20 20

10
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

necessary to conduct an economic evaluation on power expenses when

determining the transportation strategy of water fraction, inlet tem­
perature and other operating conditions.

Fig. 12. Pressure drop along the pipeline of w/o emulsions with different water
volume fractions when the oil output is 18 m3 h− 1, soil temperature is 14 ◦ C and
inlet temperature is 75 ◦ C.

water phase. In addition, the viscosity of w/o emulsion is also higher

than single water phase according to the test results in Fig. 5, especially Fig. 13. Comparison of the calculated values with field values of the fluid
at the low temperature range. Therefore, the pressure drop caused by temperature at the pipeline outlet.
friction loss will increase in w/o emulsion transportation.
The pressure drop caused by friction loss along the pipeline was
calculated. Fig. 12 presents the data of w/o emulsions with different
water volume fractions when the oil output is 18 m3 h− 1, soil temper­
ature is 14 ◦ C and inlet temperature is 75 ◦ C. It is obvious that the total
pressure drop becomes larger when the water fraction increases.
Although higher water fraction is helpful to avoid rapid temperature
drop, it assumes more pressure energy in pipeline transportation. For the
emulsion with water fraction of 20%, the pressure drop grows rapidly
near the outlet of pipeline. It is because of the high viscosity of emulsion
at low temperature.
Besides the pressure drop caused by frictional drag, there is friction
loss through fittings in transportation pipelines. When fluid encounters
local obstacles that cause resistance, such as bending, branching,
expansion or contraction of flow section, and various obstacles in flow
passage, the pressure energy will be assumed by overcoming the local
resistance. The friction loss through fittings of the pipeline is about 0.33
MPa when transporting crude oil. Therefore, it is important to check the
transportation pressure of pipeline before w/o emulsion transportation.
The maximum allowable pressure of this pipeline is 1.60 MPa and the
Fig. 14. Comparison of the water fractions at the pipeline inlet and outlet in
pipeline inlet pressure must lower than this value. In addition, it is
the same date.

Table 6
Operating parameters in the field test of w/o emulsion pipeline transportation.
Data Time Output of oil-water mixture/ Water fraction/wt. % Temperature/◦ C Gauge pressure/MPa
m3⋅h− 1
Outlet of three-phase Pipeline Pipeline Pipeline Pipeline Pipeline Pipeline
separator inlet outlet inlet outlet inlet outlet

April 8:00 20.80 0.3 0.4 0.4 91.2 38.4 0.62 0.14
23rd 21:30 21.74 0.2 0.3 0.2 90.0 38.7 0.60 0.13
April 8:00 21.55 0.4 0.3 0.3 89.3 38.6 0.59 0.15
24th 21:00 20.40 3.2 2.9 0.4 90.5 38.9 0.62 0.14
April 8:00 21.56 3.0 3.3 2.2 88.7 38.3 0.63 0.14
25th 21:00 24.46 8.9 8.3 3.5 83.3 39.5 0.68 0.13
April 8:00 23.22 12.6 13.3 7.5 84.4 41.3 0.73 0.14
26th 20:00 24.07 14.2 15.5 12.1 81.2 42.6 0.76 0.15
April 8:00 24.75 15.0 14.2 14.7 77.5 41.5 0.79 0.14
27th 19:30 25.85 16.8 15.9 15.4 75.3 41.7 0.80 0.14
April 8:00 25.74 18.3 16.9 15.8 72.7 42.4 0.82 0.13
28th 19:00 25.40 16.7 19.7 16.5 72.4 41.0 0.83 0.15
April 8:00 25.76 19.0 19.1 19.2 73.0 41.0 0.84 0.15
29th 19:00 26.88 23.1 23.9 20.5 70.6 41.3 0.86 0.14
April 8:00 27.22 25.8 25.3 23.6 68.8 41.1 0.89 0.13
30th 18:00 27.01 26.0 26.4 24.8 67.5 41.8 0.92 0.14

11
S. Li et al.
Fig. 15. Photos of the oil-water mixture samples on April 30th (a) after standing for 10 min and (b) in microscopic observation.
3.6. Field test of w/o emulsion pipeline transportation
3.6.1. Field data
The field test of w/o emulsion pipeline transportation was conducted
from April 24th, 2022 lasting for 7 days. The demulsifier injection
amount in 3 metering stations and 5 wellheads at the upstream of the
pipeline was reduced step by step until completely stopped. The varia­
tion of injection amount with date can be referred to from Table A2 in
Appendix B. Since the reduction of demulsifier injection amount, more
emulsified water was remained in oil phase when flowing out of three-
phase separator. The field operating parameters during the field test
are presented in Table 6.
In this table, it can be seen that the water fractions at the outlet of
three-phase separator and in the pipeline grew up gradually. The water
mass fraction at the outlet of three-phase separator increased from 0.3%
to 26.0%. The water volume fraction at pipeline inlet increased from
2.5% to 23.6% after conversion from water mass fraction. Due to the
increase of water phase, the pipeline inlet temperature could be reduced
from 91.2 ◦ C to 67.5 ◦ C. In Table 6, the volume output of oil-water
mixture in the standard condition fluctuated in the range from 20.40
m3 h− 1 to 27.22 m3 h− 1. After converted to the volume output in the
pipeline transportation condition, it took about 10.3–13.9 h for the oil-
water mixture to flow from pipeline inlet to pipeline outlet. Therefore,
the water fraction and temperature at the pipeline outlet (the point in
time in the evening) corresponded to the inlet data several hours ago
(8:00 a.m.). In Table 6, The inlet and outlet data in the same date could
be compared to validate the experimental results of w/o emulsion sta­
bility and the calculated results of pipeline temperature.
3.6.2. Validation of temperature calculation
The field temperature data in Table 6 were used to verify the
calculated results of Eq. (1). The soil temperature was about 14.0 ◦ C in
12
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769
the field test. The volume output of oil phase fluctuated in the range
from 19.89 m3 h− 1 to 22.69 m3 h− 1. The fluid temperatures at the
pipeline outlet were calculated with Eq. (1) based on the pipeline inlet
temperatures (8:00 a.m.) and then compared with the field outlet tem­
perature data (in the evening). The comparison of the calculated and
field values of the fluid temperature at the pipeline outlet was presented
in Fig. 13. The mean absolute error was 0.59 ◦ C and the maximum
difference value was 0.7 ◦ C. It indicated that the calculated result of Eq.
(1) was reliable and the temperature parameters used in the experiment
accorded with the filed conditions.
3.6.3. Stability of w/o emulsion
The comparison of the water fractions at the pipeline inlet and outlet
in the same date (inlet data at 8:00 a.m. and outlet data in the evening) is
presented in Fig. 14. The maximum difference value was 1.2% and the
mean absolute error was 0.71%. Considering the deviation in engi­
neering production from the ideal condition, the difference might come
from the imprecision of recorded time interval when oil-water mixture
flowing through pipeline inlet and outlet. Furthermore, the water phase
dispersed unevenly in oil phase, so there was measurement difference
between the water fraction meters at pipeline inlet and outlet. The dif­
ference values in Fig. 14 were quite small, so it demonstrated that the
water phase entered the pipeline was able to flow out from the pipeline
and nearly no water phase settled in the pipeline.
In order to validate the stability of w/o emulsion, the oil-water
mixtures were sampled at the outlet of three-phase separator, the
pipeline inlet and the pipeline outlet, respectively. The sampling was
conducted at the point in time in Table 6 (three-phase separator and
pipeline inlet at 8:00 a.m., and pipeline outlet in the evening) since
April, 27th. The water volume fractions of the samples at pipeline inlet
ranged from 12.5% to 23.6% and the pipeline inlet temperature was
from 77.5 ◦ C to 67.5 ◦ C. After sampling, the oil-water mixtures were
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

kept standing for 10 min, and there was no settled water layer observed
in all samples. In the microscopic observation of all samples, the water
and oil phases were in the state of w/o emulsion. The photos of the oil-
water mixture samples on April 30th are shown in Fig. 15. It meant that
all the water phase was fully emulsified in oil phase, and the w/o
emulsion stability was good in the whole pipeline transportation pro­
cess. It was in accordance with the experimental results of Table 5. To
sum up, the experimental evaluation method of w/o emulsion stability
in this study was reliable.
4. Conclusions
For crude oil pipeline with the excessively low flow rate, w/o
emulsion transportation technology will be applied to solve the oper­
ating problems. In order to avoid the internal corrosion of pipeline, it
needs to guarantee the full emulsification of oil and water during the
whole transportation process. An experimental evaluation method of
water-in-oil emulsion stability under flowing conditions was put for­
ward based on the operating conditions of an actual oil pipeline.
Firstly, w/o emulsion samples were prepared in laboratory with in­
verse technique to reproduce the field emulsions. The stirring speed was
determined at 1000 r⋅min− 1 and the rheological and microscopic
properties of prepared sample were very close to the field emulsion.
With the increase of water fraction, the viscosity of w/o emulsion be­
comes higher, especially at the low temperature range.
Furthermore, the evaluation experiment of emulsion stability was
conducted in a stirring vessel system. The experimental process was
designed according to the thermal and shear process experienced by the
oil-water mixture in the central gathering station and the pipeline. In
order to reproduce the shear effect with the stirring vessel system, the
average shear rate in the stirring tank was calculated according to the
relationship of the energy dissipation rate with the shear rate. The
relationship of output torque with stirring speed in the stirring tank was
calibrated by experiments, and the stirring speed needed in the
experiment could be determined by graphical method.
According to the results of evaluation experiments, the emulsion
stability was better under low transportation temperature, small water
fraction and low soil temperature. In the premise of safe transportation,
from the view of avoiding internal corrosion, it is better to use a low inlet
temperature and a small water fraction to ensure the full emulsification
of oil and water.
The field data verified the reliability of this experimental evaluation
method. Overall, for the excessive low-flowrate pipelines of some old
oilfields, this experimental evaluation method can be used to evaluate
the emulsion stability under different operating conditions. It can also
help to investigate the feasibility of w/o emulsion transportation tech­
nology and formulate reasonable transportation strategy.
Credit author statement
Si Li: investigation, data curation and writing. Kaifeng Fan: devel­
opment or design of methodology. Qiyu Huang: conceptualization,
provision of instrumentation.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This work was financially supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51804153 and No. 51904147), China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M662566 and No.
2019M660176), Scientific Research Fund of Liaoning Provincial Edu­
cation Department (No. L2019033) and Innovative Talents Support Plan
of Colleges and Universities in Liaoning Province (2020–68).

Nomenclature

a parameter, dimensionless
b parameter, dimensionless
c specific heat capacity of oil-water mixture [J⋅kg− 1⋅◦ C− 1]
co specific heat capacity of crude oil [J⋅kg− 1⋅◦ C− 1]
cw specific heat capacity of water [J⋅kg− 1⋅◦ C− 1]
D equivalent diameter of the pipeline [m]
d internal diameter of pipeline [m]
f Fanning friction resistance coefficient of pipeline, dimensionless
G mass flow rate of the pipeline [kg⋅s− 1]
K overall heat transfer coefficient of the pipeline [W⋅◦ C− 1⋅m− 2]
k consistency coefficient [Pa⋅sn]
L pipeline length used for calculation [m]
M output torque of the agitator [N⋅m]
M1 value of M calculated by Eq. (8) [N⋅m]
M2 value of M obtained by calibration experiment [N⋅m]
N stirring speed [r⋅s− 1]
n flow behavior index, dimensionless
P fluid pressure [Pa]
Re Reynolds number, dimensionless
ReMR Metzner-Reed Reynolds number, dimensionless
SRB sulfate-reducing bacteria
TGB saprophytic bacteria
TL fluid temperature at a certain distance from the pipeline inlet [◦ C]
TR fluid temperature at the pipeline inlet [◦ C]
T0 soil temperature at the average buried depth of pipeline [◦ C]
V fluid volume in the stirring tank [m3]
v flow velocity [m⋅s− 1]

13
S. Li et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 216 (2022) 110769

γ̇ shear rate [s− 1]

γ̇ 1 average shear rate of the fluid in pipeline [s− 1]
γ̇ 2 average shear rate of the fluid in stirring tank [s− 1]
λ hydraulic friction coefficient, dimensionless
μ dynamic viscosity [Pa⋅s]
ρ density [kg⋅m− 3]
φ water fraction in mass of oil-water mixture, dimensionless

Appendix A

The overall heat transfer coefficient of this pipeline was calculated based on the field temperature data in long-time running. In Eq. (1), when L was
the total length of the pipeline, TL was the oil temperature of the pipeline outlet, labeled as TZ. Then, Eq. (1) can be converted to Eq. (A1). The field data
of this pipeline and the calculated results were shown in Table A1. The average value of the calculated results in Table A1 was determined as the data
of K of this pipeline.

co G TR − T0
K= ln (A1)
πDL TZ − T0

Table A1
The field data used in calculation and the calculated results the overall heat transfer coefficient.
1
G/kg⋅s− TR/◦ C TZ/◦ C T0/◦ C K/W⋅◦ C− 1⋅ m− 2

5.29 92.2 36.8 8.3 1.37

5.12 93.3 36.9 9.5 1.38
5.33 91.5 37.3 10.2 1.41
5.25 91.3 37.2 11.4 1.43
4.98 92.1 37.5 12.5 1.39
5.19 89.9 38.2 13.2 1.40
5.05 89.4 38.1 14.1 1.39
5.26 88.3 39.0 15.3 1.42
4.95 88.7 38.7 16.4 1.40
5.11 86.2 40.1 17.7 1.37
5.19 87.4 40.2 18.5 1.44
5.31 85.3 41.0 18.9 1.40
5.05 84.1 40.4 19.7 1.38
5.38 82.1 41.3 20.1 1.39

Appendix B

The demulsifier injection amount in 3 metering stations and 5 wellheads at the pipeline upstream was reduced step by step until completely
stopped from April 24. The variation of injection amount with date is shown in Table A2.

Table A2
The variation of emulsifier injection amount with date.
1
Injection location Demulsifier concentration/ppm Injection amount/kg⋅d−

April 23 April 24 April 25 April 26 April 27 April 28

Station 1# 6 1.71 1.20 0.60 0 0 0

Station 21# 10 1.71 1.71 1.20 0.60 0 0
Station 55# 30 1.43 1.43 1.43 0.70 0 0
Well H7-283 2.1 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.14 0
Well H39-12 2.1 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.13 0
Well H39-16 2.1 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.13 0
Well H40-6 2.1 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.14 0
Well XH7-296 2.1 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.13 0

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