Measurement of Pressure Drop and Water Holdup in Vertical Upward Oil-in-Water Emulsions

This paper aims to experimentally investigate pressure drop and water holdup in vertical upward oil-inwater emulsions. As a key factor to extract water holdup with differential pressure method, friction factor is complicatedly associated with the Reynolds number of mixed fluid. However, due to the fact that oil and water phase cannot be easily separated in emulsions, the traditional quick-closing valve (QCV) method is incapable of determining water holdup, which is imperative to determine the Reynolds number of mixed fluid. In this paper, regarded as an auxiliary measurement method, an arc type conductivity probe (ATCP) is utilized to derive water holdup parameter. Combining water holdup and differential pressure information, we extract friction factor and analyze its relationship with the Reynolds number of mixed fluid. Besides, drag reduction phenomena in surfactant aqueous solution and oil-in-water emulsions are discussed as well. Finally, water holdup is predicted using differential pressure information and experimental expression of friction factor, the result of which proves the effectiveness of differential pressure method for the measurement of water holdup in oil-in-water emulsions.