EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THE HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF NANOFLUIDS IN CRUDE OIL HEATING FURNACES

Traditional methods of enhancing the thermal efficiency of heating furnaces in continuously producing oilfields, such as replacing existing units with more efficient units or renovating old furnaces, are highly inconvenient. This paper studied on the characteristics of nanofluids, a novel heat transfer medium with excellent heat transfer characteristics to enhance the thermal efficiency of heating furnaces. The stable nanofluids (Al2O3-H2O, SiO2-H2O, and TiO2-H2O) were prepared by a two-step method and various chemical and physical treatments were carried out. Thermal conductivities of the nanofluids were measured using the transient hot-wire method. Based on the analysis, the most appropriate nanofluid (TiO2-H2O) was selected to carry out the field experiments in an oilfield in Xinjiang, China. And the results show that the TiO2-H2O nanofluid (0.75%) can increase the thermal conductivity by 5.38% compared to pure water. Furthermore, the thermal efficiency of the heating furnace was enhanced by 10.57% and fuel consumption of the heating furnace was reduced by 14.8m(3)/day or 5400m(3)/year. The interesting findings reveal that nanofluids have the potential to improve the efficiency of heating furnaces in the heating, gathering and transportation systems of oilfield.