The reason for the development of insulation coatings for oil pipelines is that after long-term extraction of underground crude oil, there are fewer and fewer light and low viscosity paraffin based oils, and more and more high viscosity cycloalkyl based oils. Cycloalkyl based oils, due to their high viscosity, high density, and easy adhesion, rely more on thermal transportation during extraction and transportation. When the transportation temperature is below 60 ℃, condensation occurs and cannot be extracted and transported (high sulfur oils require higher temperatures, not lower than 90 ℃). Therefore, insulation technology for oil pipelines is imperative. There are two forms of pipeline insulation: internal insulation and external insulation. Due to strong collision, the coating will be damaged, greatly affecting the insulation effect and slowing down the insulation life. External insulation is not advisable. What are the process requirements for pipeline internal insulation.
Key points of pipeline insulation technology:
1. Coatings need to be both oil and water resistant: as crude oil is a mixture of water and oil emulsions, it carries a large amount of corrosive components (sulfur and nitrogen compounds) and a large amount of light components (C4C5C6… C9 components, which have organic solvent effects). In order to maintain the insulation life and the service life of oil pipelines, it is required that the insulation coating should be both waterproof and oil resistant.
2. The coating needs to be wear-resistant and compressive: the original coating contains a large amount of sand and metal oxides, and the coating must be worn out at all times. The wear resistance of the coating must be excellent, and because the crude oil extraction process has a certain temperature and pressure, according to the principles of fluid mechanics, the flow velocity in the middle of the pipeline liquid is fast, and the flow velocity on the side wings is slow, which will have a “rubber tearing” effect on the insulation layer. Therefore, the physical properties of the coating’s compressive and tensile resistance must also be excellent.
3. Thin coating and good smoothness: This is crucial as it directly affects the pumping speed and efficiency, and is related to oil production. Moreover, the thin coating places high demands on the insulation efficiency of the thermal insulation coating.
To sum up, we have developed an internal thermal insulation coating for oil pipelines with the world’s excellent thermal insulation material aerogel as the central raw material, in order to solve the thermal insulation problem of oil pipelines. By using a large number of materials and excellent linker additives in combination with aerogel materials, we can optimize and improve the physical properties of the coating while maintaining efficient thermal insulation. At present, this kind of coating is being tested by Laiyang Hong’an Chemical Industry.