pipeline 1

[jack200512345]

i'm working about design of a crude pipeline . crude will pump trough a 130 km pipeline. i want to know :

1-the number of required blowdown valve. (i heard that aech 20 km i have to installed a Blowdown vale in addition to each crossing , but i'm not sure about this instruction)

2- design pressure of pipeline (i have to considere transfer pump shutoff pressure or not)

3- is it required to have an intermidiate pump station in middle of pipeline or not

thanks

 

[epoisses]

Jack, before we give you the correct answers, please give a thought to the following:
1. what would a blowdown valve do?
2. what would determine what the maximum pressure would be?
3. what would determine whether you need an intermediate pump station?

 

[Homayun]

the answer to your first question is simple: Use sound engineering judgment!

for second question the answer is yes.

and the answer to your last question depends on whether you have enough pressure available after 130 km to enter your system. If not, then you obviously need someway of getting the crude in your system, don't you? and that would be an intermediate pumping station. Or moving your refinery nearer to your crude source! But that would not be practical I would guess!

 

[1969grad]

For questions concerning the determination of the pipeline maximum operating pressure, isolation valve spacing, etc. see ASME B31.4 if the pipeline is outside of the USA. ASME B31.4 is a piping code and is not a "how to" cookbook.

But first you will have to do a hydraulic study to determine the most economical size of the pipeline and number and size of pump stations. The complexities of this study are far too complex to discuss in this forum so I would refer you to Lester's book "Hydraulics for Pipeliners" as a starter.

 

[jmw]

Or you may need to set density and viscosity limits for the crude as per for the Alberta crudes, though one assumes the crude properties will be accounted for in the design; I'm not sure why in Alberta the pipeline came to need these restrictions which requires the crude to be diluted with distillate tankered back from the refineries....

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

Jmw, I'm guessing you've never been to Alberta, at least not in the winter. ;-)



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Zoobie]

jmw & Mike:

It was -29C (-20F) on the way into work this morning. Gotta love the Alberta winter...and its not even January yet. However, our pipelines are buried so they don't get that cold...cold being a relative term in this part of the world. The term 'Alberta crudes' would imply that all of it is the same. I have never heard of the light crudes ever being diluted and some of the heavy stuff goes straight into the line. We are however producing more and more bitumen and heavy crude which does require diluent for transport. Fortunately people around here are getting smarter so diluent is being recycled via pipeline (example: Muskeg River/Shell Scotford).

 

[jmw]

I was in Alberta, in winter, snow on the ground and there for a week working on a project to drastically reduce the excess distillate used in cutting back the crude (and very successfully too) but after six days when we came to return, Edmonton airport fogged in and then we had some problems.

I also designed a similar system for a Siberian refinery and got to go there and oversee the commissioning - during their winter. I'll take Alberta even though the only food/restaurant was in the gas station. Well, maybe not. Despite the 30centigrade below, the control room on the Russian refinery was wide open to the elements and the heat just rolled out from the 8" steam pipes run everywhere; including round the city (district heating) with steam leaking from every flange.

But I take your point. In an extreme climate don't bury the pipeline below the permafrost.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[jmw]

Ah, a cross post, the pipelines are buried (thanks Zoobie)
I didn't get to see the main pipeline as I was in the tank farm where the crude was collected before bieng inline blended with diluent into the pipeline.

All I really remember was that getting into Canada from the USA I felt like an East German trying to get into West Germany before the wall came down and they even wanted to be sure I brought all the handbooks back with me. I had more forms to fill out and more money to pay than going in to Russia (and I was charmingly given a dollar dollar parity when I tried to spend my US dollars (this was when the US decided that they had to treat cross border workers on the Canadian border the same as on the Mexican border and the Canadians retaliated, or so it was explained to me.)

By the way, appolgies to Jack 200512345 as I seem to be rambling off thread again.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

That USA-Canada currency exchange border war has been going on for five decades that I know of, and I've been shorted on both sides of the border as the relative strengths of the currencies changed. Each side blames the other, as usual.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA