The Effect of Drag Reducing Polymer to the Interfacial Tension of Oil-Water, Two Phase Mixture

The use of polymeric drag reducing additives (PDRA) have been discovered in the early 20th century, where its first large-scale commercial utilization has been implemented in the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS) in 1979. The ability of polymer solution to modify the viscosity of the flowing medium translates into its assistance of altering the flow properties during the transportation of fluids. During the process, PDRA promoted the bubbly and dispersed flow into stratified regime, where oil-water is separated via a pronounced interfacial boundary. In this condition, the nature of the interfacial tension is unknown due to the changes caused by the dilution of PDRA into the flowing medium. This research presents the study on the rheological properties of the partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) solution that acts as the PDRA its ability to affect the oil-water interfacial tension. The experimental work consists of viscometry and the pendant drop analyses, conducted for various concentration of PDRA at various temperatures. The study shows that the PDRA exhibit a shear thickening effect and is proven from the flow behavior index where the n > 1. The PHPA solution at 7 000 and 10 000 ppm gives higher viscosity and provides better reduction of the interfacial tension which are 10.96 mN/m and 8.31 mN/m at 25°C between the oil-water interphase. However, at elevated temperature the PHPA solutions do not demonstrate much difference in the behavior of the flow as well as its effect towards the interfacial tension of the oil-water interphase