Cold Tie in

[JoseEnb]

Dear Seniors,

I am preparing Cold tie in pipeline procedure, for 36’ pipeline to tie in with 34’ pipeline and after 20km will tie in back by 36 inch pipeline because our company want to use new 34 inch pipeline which is going to be abandoned before our tie in (dilute bitumen) which laid 6 months ago.There is a two stopple available for plugging.
What king of vacuum truck I had to use to suck 20 km of dilute bitumen which is stagnant?
I don’t have drain line so do I need to hot tap for 2’ for using as drain line?
Will this 2’ drain will enough to vacuum the 20km inside product?
What kind of seal I have to insert near by plugging?
What kind of tray or catch basin I have to keep for cutting the 34 inch pipeline to collect the any substance from the pipeline?

Thanks
JoseEnb

 

[zdas04]

You are kidding yourself if you think you can suck 12000 m^3 of viscous fluid from either end of a 20 km line. The only thing that has any chance of success at all is to put a scrapper pig in one end and chase it with kerosene. Then use another pig and chase it with nitrogen. Anything less than that and you are going to just have a mess.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[JoseEnb]

Thanks Zdas04 for your suggestion.

 

[JoseEnb]

Thanks Zdas04 for your suggestion

 

[LittleInch]

Jose,

So far all I can work out is that you want to use a 20km stretch of existing pipeline and tie in a 36" pipeline at each end - correct?

I can't work out what is in the pipeline now (dilbit?), what sort of isolations are in place, what a "cold tie in" is - flanges?, where these stopples are and how you were thinking of connecting it.

a sketch or two might get you some useful advise, but without some more details, I can only agree with zdas04.

If you're talking about stopples then you need to minimise the quantity of drain down, but I have no idea of what you're trying to do.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.