Exergy destruction in pipeline flow of surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions

Abstract

Exergy destruction in adiabatic pipeline flow of surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions is investigated in five different diameter pipes. The dispersed-phase (oil droplets) concentration of the emulsions is varied from 0% to 55.14% vol. The emulsions are Newtonian in that the viscosity is independent of the shear rate. For a given emulsion and pipe diameter, the exergy destruction rate per unit pipe length increases linearly with the increase in the Reynolds number on a log-log scale in both laminar and turbulent regimes. However the slope in the turbulent regime is higher. The exergy destruction rate increases with the increase in the dispersed-phase concentration of emulsion and decreases with the increase in the pipe diameter. New models are developed for the prediction of exergy destruction rate in pipeline flow of surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions. The models are based on the single-phase flow equations. The experimental data on exergy destruction in pipeline flow of emulsions shows excellent agreement with the predictions of the proposed models.