文摘
The highly viscous property of heavy oil often causes problems in its transportation in pipelines. Mixing heavy oil with light oil as well as ultrasound treatment are viable solutions to this problem. In this study, extra heavy crude oil samples were first diluted with 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15 mL/mL (0, 5, 10, and 15 vol%) of a light crude oil; then the mixture was irradiated by ultrasonic waves for 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 min; finally the viscous shear functions of all mixtures was measured at different values of shear rate at different temperature levels. The results revealed that the minimum viscosity of the diluted extra heavy crude oil samples was obtained at 10 min of ultrasonic irradiation. Moreover, the viscosity reduction rate in relation to temperature decreases as temperature increases. In other words, the maximum viscosity reduction rate occurred at 0.05 mL/mL (5 vol%) of light crude oil. Using the experimental data, the parameters of common rheological models were obtained and a new modified Power Law model was presented to calculate the effect of shear rate and temperature simultaneously.
