On-line viscometer holds up under pressure

When flow assurance consultants AsphWax of Stafford in Texas were looking for an on-line viscometer capable of dealing with high pressures, they naturally turned to Hydramotion

Hydramotion, a global leader in viscosity measurement, designs and manufactures on-line viscometers for any fluid under any conditions, including hazardous area processes.

AsphWax provides oil and gas operators with innovative solutions to asphaltene, wax and hydrate problems.

In their highly specialised laboratory, AsphWax need to measure the viscosity of crude oils sampled in the field.

These measurements are important for flow assurance and for determining equipment specifications.

The samples are taken at high pressure and the viscosity measurements have to be made under comparable conditions.

Familiar with the Hydramotion sturdy, reliable technology, AsphWax asked if they could supply an on-line instrument capable of withstanding oilfield conditions, and the answer was an instant "yes".

High pressures present no challenge to the Hydramotion XL7 on-line viscometer.

The sensor is a single solid probe whose unique architecture imposes no theoretical limit on pressure.

Hydramotion has supplied numerous instruments to leading oilfield services providers, including units for the measurement of heavy crude at 345bar and 100C (5000psi at 212F).

The viscometer supplied to AsphWax is rated much higher, at 20,000 psi (1380 bar), and even higher ratings are possible.

Hydramotion worked closely with the client to design a truncated, narrow-probe instrument with a tapered metal-to-metal high-pressure fitting suitable for installation in its custom-built pressure vessel.

"Hydramotion was the only company that could supply what we were looking for," commented Dr Kosta J Leontaritis (otherwise known as "Dr Wax"), AsphWax President and CEO: "With this viscometer we can now get the data we need to tune our mathematical models and correlations and increase the accuracy of our viscosity predictions".

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