Drag reduction study of xathan gum with polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDAC)‎ solutions in turbulent flow

Abstract EN

The transportation of liquids through pipelines is attributed with high-energy consumption due to the turbulent nature of their transportation.

Low concentrations of polymeric additives were proven effective flow enhancing agent when injected into these pipelines due to its viscoelastic property capable of suppressing the turbulent structures; however, the mechanical degradation of polymers is a disadvantage, which can be controlled efficiently by using complex in a surfactant- polymer interface.

In this presented work, turbulent drag reduction (DR) efficacy of anionic Xathan gum and nonionic surfactant (PDDAC) regarding the surfactant -polymer interface was studied using a rotating disk apparatus (RDA) technique and pipeline.

The effect of surfactant addition, critical concentration of XG, and the dependence of drag reduction on the turbulent strength from the rotation speed were also studied.

The critical behavior of the interface was found at XG (700 ppm) and (1000-ppm) concentrations, respectively.

The drag reduction (~70%) was observed at critical concentration behavior, which is largely reliant on the alkyl chain in the surfactant molecule.

The result of the a rotating disk apparatus (RDA) gave about 51% drag reduction with the Xanthan gum alone while in the pipe, about 58% drag reduction percent (DR%) was obtained.

(PDDAC) alone yielded about 32% and 36% drag reduction in the rotating disk apparatus (RDA) and pipe respectively.

However, combining the Xanthan gum polymer and Polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDAC) surfactant gave 62% drag reduction.

Thus, it could be inferred that the combination of these duo has greater impact than the individual materials.

It could thus be concluded that the complex formed by these materials is another form of drag reducing agents.