Interactions Between Drag Reducing Polymers And Surfactants

Drag reduction in turbulent pipe flow using polymeric and surfactant additives is well known. Although extensive research work has been carried out on the drag reduction behavior of polymers and surfactants in isolation, little progress has been made on the synergistic effects of combined polymers and surfactants. In this work the interactions between drag-reducing polymers and surfactants were studied. The drag-reducing polymers studied were nonionic polyethylene oxide (referred to as PEO) and anionic copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate (referred to as CPAM). The drag-reducing surfactants studied were nonionic ethoxylated alcohol - Alfonic 1412-7 (referred to as EA), cationic surfactant - Octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride in pure powder form (referred to as OTAC-p) and commercial grade cationic surfactant - Octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride in isopropanol solvent - Arquad 18-50 (referred to as OTAC-s). The interactions between polymers and surfactant were reflected in the measurements of the physical properties such as electrical conductivity, surface tension, viscosity and turbidity. The critical micelle concentration (cmc) of the mixed polymer / surfactant system was found to be different from that of the surfactant alone. The viscosity of a polymer solution was significantly affected by the addition of surfactant. Weak interactions were observed for the mixed systems of nonionic polymer - nonionic surfactant and anionic polymer - nonionic surfactant. Due to the wrapping of polymer chains around the developing micelles, a minimum in the viscosity is observed in these two cases. In the case of nonionic polymer / cationic surfactant system, the change in the viscosity was found to depend on the polymer concentration (C) and the critical entanglement concentration (C*). When the polymer concentration (C) was less than C* (C C*), the plot of the viscosity versus surfactant concentration exhibited a minimum. When C C*, a maximum in the viscosity versus surfactant concentration plot was observed. The interactions between nonionic polymer and cationic surfactant were observed to increase with the increase in temperature. A large drop in the viscosity occurred in the case of anionic-polymer / cationic-surfactant system when surfactant was added to the polymer solution. The observed changes in the viscosity are explained in terms of the changes in the extension of polymeric chains resulting from polymer-surfactant interactions. The anionic CPAM chains collapsed upon the addition of cationic OTAC-p, due to charge neutralization. The presence of counterion sodium salicylate (NaSal) stabilized the cationic surfactant monomers in the solution, resulting in micelle formation at a surfactant concentration well below the concentration where complete charge neutralization of anionic polymer occurred. Preliminary results are reported on the pipeline drag reduction behavior of mixed polymer-surfactant system. The results obtained using combinations of CPAM / OTAC-p in pipeline flow are found to be in harmony with the interaction study. Due to the shrinkage of CPAM chains upon the addition of OTAC-p, the drag reducing ability of CPAM is compromised.

A large amount of studies have been carried out on pipeline flow with several kinds of drag reducing agents, especially polymers and surfactants. Drag reducing agents, by definition, are additives which help suppress or eliminate turbulence in a pipeline. The mechanism and methodology of polymer only or surfactant only as drag reducing additives have been fully discovered. Whether mixed drag reducers such as polymer-surfactant or polymer-polymer systems would be effective is still not clear. In our study, polymer-surfactant and polymer-polymer mixed additives are used in order to explore the synergistic effects and interactions in pipeline flow loops. The experimental work was divided into two sections: bench-scale experiments and pilot-scale experiments. In bench-scale experiments, the properties of prepared fluids such as, surface tension, conductivity and shear viscosity were measured. Several comparison methods and calculations were applied to give better understandings of the properties resulting from mixing of polymer with surfactant and polymer with polymer. After analysis of the properties, several combinations of concentrations were selected and solutions were prepared in the main tank of pilot plant and pumped into the pipeline set-up to test the pipeline flow behaviors. Turbulence structure/Reynolds number, pipe diameter, polymer-surfactant concentration were all considered as influencing factors. Critical micelle concentration, critical aggregation concentration, polymer saturation point, the onset of drag reduction, and the interactions between the mixed additives were discussed. A comparison between pipeline results and the predictions of Blasius Equation or Dodge-Metzner Equation were also discussed.. For polymer-surfactant studies, a commonly used polymer additive - carboxylmethylcellulose (referred to as CMC which is anionic) was selected as the drag reducing agent. The performance of this polymer was investigated in the presence of six surfactants respectively - Alcohol ethoxylate (referred to as Alfonic 1412-9 and Alfonic 1412-3 which are nonionic), Aromox DMC (nonionic surfactant), Stepanol WA-100 and Stepwet DF-95 (which mainly consist sodium lauryl sulfates, anionic surfactant) and Amphosol (which is zwitterionic).The experiments were first conducted with pure CMC solution with different concentrations (100ppm, 500ppm, 700ppm and 1000ppm) as a standard. The 500ppm CMC solution was selected as the best polymer concentration with highest drag reduction efficiency. For polymer-surfactant combinations, CMC-Alfonic 1412-9, CMC-Alfonic1412-3, CMC-Stepanol and CMC-Stepwet systems were found to have significant interactions. High surfactant concentration resulted in reduction in %DR. The addition of Aromox increased the drag reduction ability and onset point when concentration was higher than the polymer saturation points. Also, both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions were thought to have an effect on critical micelle concentration, which led to the fluctuations in the %DR. For polymer-polymer studies, PAM-PEO system at two different polymer concentrations were investigated. Overall, Pure PAM solution had much higher drag reduction ability than pure PEO solutions. Mixing them together, strong interactions occurred when PEO fraction was high (over 50%) which affected %DR and shear viscosity substantially. Power-law constants n and k were also taken into account and found to exhibit opposite trends with the increase of PEO fraction.

Turbulent drag reduction by additives has long been a hot research topic. This phenomenon is inherently associated with multifold expertise. Solutions of drag-reducing additives are usually viscoelastic fluids having complicated rheological properties. Exploring the characteristics of drag-reduced turbulent flows calls for uniquely designed experimental and numerical simulation techniques and elaborate theoretical considerations. Pertinently understanding the turbulent drag reduction mechanism necessities mastering the fundamentals of turbulence and establishing a proper relationship between turbulence and the rheological properties induced by additives. Promoting the applications of the drag reduction phenomenon requires the knowledge from different fields such as chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, municipal engineering, and so on. This book gives a thorough elucidation of the turbulence characteristics and rheological behaviors, theories, special techniques and application issues for drag-reducing flows by surfactant additives based on the state-of-the-art of scientific research results through the latest experimental studies, numerical simulations and theoretical analyses. Covers turbulent drag reduction, heat transfer reduction, complex rheology and the real-world applications of drag reduction Introduces advanced testing techniques, such as PIV, LDA, and their applications in current experiments, illustrated with multiple diagrams and equations Real-world examples of the topic’s increasingly important industrial applications enable readers to implement cost- and energy-saving measures Explains the tools before presenting the research results, to give readers coverage of the subject from both theoretical and experimental viewpoints Consolidates interdisciplinary information on turbulent drag reduction by additives Turbulent Drag Reduction by Surfactant Additives is geared for researchers, graduate students, and engineers in the fields of Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Turbulence, Chemical Engineering, Municipal Engineering. Researchers and practitioners involved in the fields of Flow Control, Chemistry, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Experimental Fluid Dynamics, and Rheology will also find this book to be a much-needed reference on the topic.

Lthough extensive research work has been carried out on the drag reduction behavior of polymers and surfactants alone, little progress has been made on the synergistic effects of combined polymers and surfactants. A number of studies have demonstrated that certain types of polymers and surfactants interact with each other to form surfactant-polymer complexes. The formation of such complexes can cause changes in the solution properties and may result in better drag reduction characteristics as compared with pure additives. A series of drag-reducing surfactants and polymers were screened for the synergistic studies. The following two widely used polymeric drag reducing agents (DRA) were chosen: a copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate (referred to as PAM) and polyethylene oxide (PEO). Among the different types of surfactants screened, a cationic surfactant octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (OTAC) and an anionic surfactant Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were selected for the synergistic study. In the case of the cationic surfactant OTAC, sodium salicylate (NaSal) was used as a counterion. No counterion was used with anionic surfactant SDS. The physical properties such as viscosity, surface tension and electrical conductivity were measured in order to detect any interaction between the polymer and the surfactant. The drag reduction (DR) ability of both pure and mixed additives was investigated in a pipeline flow loop. The effects of different parameters such as additive concentration, type of water (deionized (DI) or tap), temperature, tube diameter, and mechanical degradation were investigated. The addition of OTAC to PAM solution has a significant effect on the properties of the system. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the mixed surfactant-polymer system is found to be different from that of the surfactant alone. The anionic PAM chains collapse upon the addition of cationic OTAC and a substantial decrease in the viscosity occurs. The pipeline flow behaviour of PAM/OTAC mixtures is found to be consistent with the bench scale results. The drag reduction ability of PAM is reduced upon the addition of OTAC. At low concentrations of PAM, the effect of OTAC on the drag reduction behavior is more pronounced. The drag reduction behavior of polymer solutions is strongly influenced by the nature of water (de-ionized or tap). The addition of OTAC to PEO solution exhibited a week interaction based on the viscosity and surface tension measurements. However, the pipeline results showed a considerable synergistic effect, that is, the mixed system gave a significantly higher drag reduction (lower friction factors) as compared with the pure additives (pure polymer or pure surfactant). The synergistic effect in the mixed system was stronger at low polymer concentrations and high surfactant concentrations. Also the resistance against mechanical degradation of the additive was improved upon the addition of OTAC to PEO. The mixed PEO/SDS system exhibited a strong interaction between the polymers (PEO) and the surfactant (SDS), Using electrical conductivity and surface tension measurements, the critical aggregation concentration (CAC) and the polymer saturation point (PSP) were determined. As the PEO concentration is increased, the CAC decreases and the PSP increase. The addition of SDS to the PEO solution exhibits a remarkable increase in the relative viscosity compared to the pure PEO solution. This increase is attributed to the changes in the hydrodynamic radius of the polymer coil. The pipeline flow exhibited a considerable increase in DR for the mixed system as compared to the pure PEO solution. The addition of surfactant always improves the extent of DR up to the PSP. Also the mixed PEO/ SDS system shows better resistance against shear degradation of the additive.

Drag reduction is a well-observed phenomenon, it was first observed by the British chemist Toms in 1946, yet its mechanism is still unknown to this day. Polymer Drag reduction has found application in reducing pumping costs for oil pipelines (its use in the Trans Alaska Pipeline has resulted in an increase from 1.44 million bbl./day to 2.1356 million bbl./day), increasing the flow rate in firefighting equipment, and in supporting irrigation and drainage systems. Surfactant drag reducers are used industrially in district heating and cooling systems. Though the fields of Surfactant Drag Reduction and Polymer Drag Reduction are each independently well-developed the effect of their interaction on drag reduction is a less explored phenomenon. Through a well chosen pairing of surfactant and polymer, drag reduction can be maximized while minimizing surfactant and polymer concentrations cutting down on cost and environmental impact. The focus of this work was to determine if there was any positive interaction between the polymers Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) and Anionic PolyAcrylAmide (PAM) and the surfactant Amphosol CG (Cocamidopropyl Betaine) as well as any interaction between the polymers themselves. Both polymers are popular drag reducers while Amphosol is a practically nontoxic (LD50=5g/kg) zwitterionic surfactant and is readily biodegradable. In order to determine if any interaction was present and at what concentration was this most notable 4 techniques were used: Surface tension, Conductivity, Relative Viscosity and Shear Viscosity measurement. From this analysis the polymer Saturation point (PSP), Critical aggregation concentration (CAC) and Critical micelle concentration (CMC) were found as well as the concentrations that optimized the viscosity for the pilot plant runs. The bench scale results were used to pick the optimum concentrations for the polymer surfactant solutions. Pressure readings and flowrate measurements were used to plot the Fanning Friction Factor against the Generalized Reynolds Number for the surfactant polymer mixtures and compared to their pure polymer and surfactant counterparts. The Blasius line was found to hold for water measurements taken and is the base to determine percentage drag reduction. The effect of the presence of amphosol on degradation and overall drag reduction were noted. Other factors considered were pipe diameter and the effect of ionic impurities in the solvent.

Interactions of Surfactants with Polymers and Proteins covers work done in this area over the last 30 years and examines in detail the physico-chemical, microstructural, and applications aspects of interactions of surfactants with polymers and proteins in bulk surfaces and at interfaces. The physical chemistry of individual components (surfactants, polymers, and proteins) is discussed, and extensive coverage of interactions of surfactants with uncharged, oppositely charged, and hydrophobe modified polymers is provided. Other topics addressed include water soluble and insoluble keratinous proteins, the principles and applications of fluorescence spectroscopy, the physical properties and microstructural aspects of polymer/protein-surfactant complexes, and implications of surfactant interactions with polymers and proteins in practical systems. Interactions of Surfactants with Polymers and Proteins provides a wealth of information for chemists involved in a number of different research areas, including cosmetics, pharmaceutics, foods, paints, pigments, lubrication, ceramics, minerals/materials processing, and biological systems.

Drag Reduction of Turbulent Flows by Additives is the first treatment of the subject in book form. The treatment is extremely broad, ranging from physicochemical to hydromechanical aspects. The book shows how fibres, polymer molecules or surfactants at very dilute concentrations can reduce the drag of turbulent flow, leading to energy savings. The dilute solutions are considered in terms of the physical chemistry and rheology, and the properties of turbulent flows are presented in sufficient detail to explain the various interaction mechanisms. Audience: Those active in fundamental research on turbulence and those seeking to apply the effects described. Fluid mechanical engineers, rheologists, those interested in energy saving methods, or in any other application in which the flow rate in turbulent flow should be increased.

This new edition of the Handbook of Surface and Colloid Chemistry informs you of significant recent developments in the field. It highlights new applications and provides revised insight on surface and colloid chemistry's growing role in industrial innovations. The contributors to each chapter are internationally recognized experts. Several chapter

Drag Reduction of Complex Mixtures discusses the concept of drag reduction phenomena in complex mixtures in internal and external flows that are shown experimentally by dividing flow patterns into three categories. The book is intended to support further experiments or analysis in drag reduction. As accurately modeling flow behavior with drag reduction is always complex, and since drag reducing additives or solid particles are mixed in fluids, this book covers these complex phenomena in a concise, but comprehensive manner. Comprehensively addresses a range of drag reduction themes involving different kinds of complex mixtures Provides data to support further experimentation and computer modeling of drag in complex flow Includes an introduction to the nature and characteristics of different kinds of complex mixtures

An important practical aspect in the application and study of drag reduction by polymer additives is the degradation of the polymer, for instance due to intense shearing, especially in circulatory flow systems. Such degradation leads to a marked loss of the drag-reducing capability of the polymer. Polymers-Surfactant complex efficacy in reducing the drag and improving the degradation resistance is a new subject in drag reduction research. Turbulent drag reduction (DR) efficacy of ionic Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate (NaPSS) and sodium Alkylbenzene sulfonate, complexes systems regarding polymer-surfactant interaction was examined under a turbulent flow in a rotating disk apparatus, in which the DR efficacy indicates how the torque is being reduced with a tiny amount of additives under a turbulent flow at a fixed rotational speed. It was found that the addition of the surfactant to the ionic increased the polymer chain dimensions via a conformational structural change, thus enhancing the DR efficacy. Polymer-surfactant system also shows that there exists a critical polymer concentration at which the drag reduction becomes a maximum, and then above the critical concentration, the DR efficacy decreases more rapidly than that of pure polymeric systems. On the other hand, it was found that the addition of the surfactant to the ionic polymer enhance its ability to resist the degradation caused by the high shear stress in the eddy flow. The addition of sodium Alkylbenzene sulfonate to the ionic polymer was found to have higher improvement than the addition of DDAB in degradation resistance. The DR and degradation resistance efficacy induced by the polymer-surfactant mixture is found to be obvious higher than of pure polymer. In addition, the maximum of DR efficacy versus polymer concentration occurred at 700 ppm.