OIL CONTAMINATION IN BATCH TRANSPORT

I. Introduction
The Nor-Peruvian-Pipeline starts at the pumping station 1 (PS1) at the town San Jose de
Saramuro in the Amazon rainforest crosses the Andes and ends at port of Bayovar at the Pacific
Ocean. A 24 pipe of 306 km of length joins PS1 and PS5; from PS5 to Bayovar the diameter is
36 and the length is 548 km. There is a branch of 16 of diameter and 252 km of length that
starts at Andoas pumping station (APS) and ends at PS5 (see figure).



Petroleum of
different
types are
transported
through this
pipeline in
batches.
Batching
refers to the
process of
transporting
portions of
petroleum
successively
through a
pipeline. Large quantities of different types of petroleum are transported from one point to
another. To separate two types of petroleum in the pipeline, a device called pig is placed
between them. During the movement of the pig along the pipeline petroleum of one type goes to
the other side of the pig and contaminates the other type of petroleum.



Pipeline contamination is usually understood to mean both the mixing effect produced when
two different products transported by the same pipeline come in contact with each other and the
product of such mixing. This product is often referred to as contamination or as interface.

II. The problem
The owner of the pipeline must guarantee to the proprietary of a batch of petroleum the quality
of this at the reception point. The contamination has a negative economic effect in the operation
of the pipeline and the volume of contaminated petroleum at the reception point must be
determined.

The volume flow rate through the pipeline and also the density and viscosity of the petroleum at
each side of the pig is known. The piezometric line of the pipeline and its length are known.
Two geometries of pigs must be considered: disk pigs and cup pigs.



The flow must be simulated in order to estimate the volume, density and viscosity of
contaminated petroleum at both sides of the pig. Different situations must be considered:
1) Flow through a straight pipe of a given length and diameter in a horizontal position.
2) Flow upwards and downwards through a straight pipe of given slope and diameter.
3) Flow through a curved pipe in a vertical plane.
4) Flow through a curved pipe in a horizontal plane.

If possible, the deformation of the cups must be considered in the case of cup pigs.
Several diameters of the pipeline must be considered: 16, 24 and 36.

Cristhian Guerrero Asmad
Mechanical and Electrical Engineer
cguerreroasmad@gmail.com