Hot Oil Tracing for Pipeline

[Stiffmeister]

Hi Guys, Does anyone here have an experience on installing a hot oil tracing for a 1 km pipe used for bitumen transfer? I understand that for pipelines as long as these electric tracing is the way to go but is it really worth considering to install hot oil tracing instead? If yes,are there special considerations in the design of the heat trace?

 

[LittleInch]

I've never installed one but have looked at similar systems. To get the heat flow in you really need to use a pipe in pipe system. Bitumen is usually over 100C so even with good insulation loses quite a bit of heat. You probably also need counter flow or some sort of return pipe system.

Electric or steam heat trace is the accepted solution.

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

 

[Compositepro]

Remember that with oil heating it is all sensible heat (no latent heat) so every BTU that goes into heating the pipe results in cooling of the oil. Thus, when there is significant heat load, there is also significant temperature drop. The pipe will have to be very well insulated for oil heating to work, and there will still be significant temperature gradient along the length of the pipe.

 

[georgeverghese]

Electric heat tracing for bitumen lines is preferable compared to hot oil tracing for reliability and uniformity in heating reasons.

Use Thermon HPT or Thermon HTEK for bitumen temperatures exceeding 120degC. HPT is somewhat more reliable than HTEK. For HPT in a 1km line, break it up into a couple of circuits, with each circuit covering 200metres(?) or so (depends on the limit of length for HPT - talk to Thermon for actual limit).

Beware of hazardous area limitations for each of these types of tracing. A good design will have an independant high temperature cutout for each circuit. The more you talk to these Thermon people, the more you'll learn about what you can and cannot do.