Experimental study on viscosity reduction for residual oil by ultrasonic

Abstract Because of characteristics of large density, high viscosity and poor mobility, the processing and transportation of residual oil are difficult and challenging, viscosity reduction of residual oil is of great significance. In this paper, the effects of different placement forms of ultrasonic transducers on the sound pressure distribution of ultrasonic inside a cubic container have been simulated, the characteristics of oil bath heating and ultrasonic viscosity reduction were compared, viscosity reduction rule of residual oil was experimentally analyzed by utilizing Response Surface Method under conditions of changing ultrasonic exposure time, power and action mode, the mechanism of viscosity reduction was studied by applying Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, the viscosity retentivity experiment was carried out at last. Experiments were conducted using two kinds of residual oil, and results show that ultrasonic effect on the viscosity reduction of residual oil is significant, the higher viscosity of residual oil, the better effect of ultrasonic, ultrasonic power and exposure time are the significant factors affecting the viscosity reduction rate of residual oil. The maximum viscosity reduction rate is obtained under condition of ultrasonic power is 900 W, exposure time is 14 min and action mode of exposure time is 2 s and interrupting time is 2 s, viscosity reduction rate reaching up to 63.95%. The infrared spectroscopy results show that light component in residual oil increased. The viscosity retentivity experiment results show that the viscosity reduction effect remains very well. This paper can provide data reference for the application of ultrasonic in the field of viscosity reduction for residual oil.