The crude oil was usually heated and insulated to keep better flowability during the transportation because the flowability of crude oil with high solidification point and viscosity value is worse at ambient temperature. Utilization of solar energy instead of general energy for heating fuel oil can save a great part of energy consumption. According to the process conditions and operating characteristic of crude oil, a solar energy system for oil field has been designed. It consists of solar collector array, heat exchanger, hot water storage tanks and control system. In this system, through a heat exchanger the crude oil is heated indirectly by hot water, which is provided from solar energy collectors. The system can provide hot water for 6~8 hours per day, and the temperature of heated crude oil is increased by 25~30°C. It is expected that the nature gas consumption have been saved up to 9x10⁴ m³ annually.
Keywords. Solar Energy; heating crude oil; solar energy collector; heat exchanger
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How to cite this article
Wang, X., Tan, X. and Zhu, M. (2005). 'Applied Research of Solar Heating System for Crude Oil Transportation'. SET Proceedings, 4(1), pp. 64-68. https://doi.org/10.65582/set.2005.014
