COMPARISON OF TRIETHANOLAMINE (TEA) AND ETHYL VINYL ACETATE (EVA) AS FLOW IMPROVERS OF CRUDE OIL.

This research presents a study on the comparative analysis of the efficiencies of triethanolamine (TEA) and ethylvinylacetate (EVA) as flow improvers for crude oil transport. Varied concentrations (by volume percentage) of 0%, 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4% and 1% of triethanolamine were introduced into separate but same quantities of crude oil and stirred. The viscosity and pour points were monitored at varied temperatures (30oC, 40oC, 50oC, 60oC, 70oC) to ascertain optimum concentration and temperature of best flow improvement with that of zero concentration serving as control. Similar thing was done with EVA at same conditions. TEA and EVA both drastically dropped viscosity of the crude close to what temperature alone could offer but rose immediately after the minimum concentration of 0.025% with EVA and TEA on further diluent addition. TEA viscosity rose steeply and later tended towards a constant viscosity. This was also the trend with EVA, but it rose gently unlike TEA at increased concentration of the additive. Using room temperature (30oC) for the two additives (TEA and EVA) as reference point at 0.025% concentration of each to the same volume of crude oil, TEA gave a minimum viscosity of 0.1124centistokes and EVA gave 0.1184centistokes. Similar trend was also observed at the apex temperature (70oC) at 0.025% concentration (TEA viscosity = 0.0997centistokes and EVA = 0.1015centistokes). In the end, TEA was observed to be better than EVA although EVA has its own relative advantage especially at higher temperatures and concentrations. Higher temperature from 40oC and above degraded TEA but not EVA, as a result was inhibitory to the reverse rise in viscosity in TEA. Hence, having established TEA and EVA as good drag reducing agents, the additives if used in the proper calculated quantities will act optimally in improving crude oil transport. Outcome of this research will find application in our oil and gas industry where challenges in crude oil transport has been overwhelming as a result of wax formations in the pipelines.