The problem of transportation of working and technological media of heat carriers

Relevance.

The problem of transportation of working and technological media, including heat carriers and hydrocarbons, is extremely relevant for the European Union, which is a world leader in the length of pipeline systems. The length of pipelines through which the products of the oil and gas complex are transported is 219 thousand kilometers, including gas pipelines - 151 thousand kilometers, oil pipelines - 48.5 thousand kilometers, oil product pipelines - 19.3 thousand km, pipelines for the transportation of heat carrier heat supply systems - 280 thousand km, water pipes - 750 thousand km. The current state of the domestic pipeline network is characterized by a high accident rate due to intense corrosion, significant hydraulic resistance, as well as the accumulation of deposits on heat exchange and in-pipe surfaces against the background of a long service life (about 40% of pipelines have been in operation for more than 25 years). The proportion of damages resulting from leaking.

During operation, the hydraulic resistance of pipeline networks increases many times due to the occurrence of corrosion processes and the accumulation of deposits on the inner surfaces of pipelines of heat supply systems. The narrowing of the flow sections of pipelines leads to the need to constantly increase the inlet pressure of the pumped medium to ensure the calculated flow rate. In turn, an increase in the main pressure leads to a decrease in the reliability and efficiency of pipeline networks, both due to an increase in the number of accidents associated with pipeline rupture and the formation of fistulas, and due to the operation of pumping station equipment not in nominal mode, leading to an increase in the wear rate of pumping units and a decrease in their efficiency.

Solution method

The analysis of scientific and technical publications and publications shows that one of the promising solutions in this direction is to give surfaces the properties of ultrahydrophobicity. The essence of the proposed technology is to modify the internal surfaces of pipelines and equipment by forming densely packed molecular layers of surfactants (surfactants) on them. Modification of surfaces is carried out during the manufacturing process, as well as during the operation of pipeline systems. The implementation of the technology allows to reduce the cost of electricity for the pump drive by 25-40% depending on the flow rate of working and technological media due to: A significant reduction in hydraulic resistance is achieved by:

giving the surface of pipelines the properties of hydrophobicity (wetting angle of the order of 1500);
reducing the coefficient of friction of the molecules of the transported medium on the surface of pipelines and other equipment;
the appearance of the effect of slippage of the molecules of the transported medium;
smoothing of micro and macrorelief of surfaces, which leads to a decrease in the number of hydraulic vortices and weakening of the remaining;
formation of a hydraulically advantageous relief due to the malleability of the molecular layers of surfactants.

It is known that the reduction of the hydraulic resistance of the pipeline network is directly proportional to the reduction in energy costs for the transportation of liquid media. The formation of molecular layers of surfactants on functional surfaces will not only significantly increase the energy efficiency of pipeline systems, but also by blocking corrosion processes and accumulation of deposits, increase their service life by at least 2 times, significantly reduce the cost of preparing the quality of transported media (heat supply systems in this case can be operated on "raw"raquo; water), to abandon chemical and hydro-pneumatic washing, but also to preserve the operability of the pipeline systems in operation in the near future, and to significantly expand the scope of carbon steels.

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