The São Carlos School of Engineering (EESC, in Portuguese) of the University of São Paulo (USP) will open on 4th September the Laboratory of Industrial Multiphase Flows (LEMI, in Portuguese), funded by Petrobras, with the goal of developing technology solutions that involve the exploration and production of oil and gas with applications in the pre-salt production scenario. The two-thousand-square-meter building, located on the campus 2 of USP at São Carlos, it is being finalized.

The coordinator of the laboratory, Dr. Oscar Mauricio Hernandez Rodriguez, professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department (SEM), explains that the facilities will enable LEMI to simulate processes involving multiphase flows at high pressure - production conditions where there is a mix of oil and bubbles of dense carbon dioxide gas (CO2) - aiming to mimic the methods used in the petroleum industry.

"At the laboratory, some experiments will be performed using techniques that come close to the physical quantities of industrial production - pressure, temperature and flow rates. For that, the infrastructure was also planned for the industrial conditions, with steel pipes, advanced instrumentation and stricter safety standards”, explains Rodriguez.

On a smaller scale, the Thermal-fluids Engineering Laboratory (LETeF, in Portuguese), located at SEM, campus 1 of USP at São Carlos, has been simulating the oil production chain using liquids and gases at low pressure with an infrastructure different from the industrial one. Research projects have been developed for several years in this space, through partnerships with major oil companies.

Professor Rodriguez says that for the time being the projects and facilities won't be transferred to the new lab, and the agreements and contracts signed and currently in progress will remain in LETeF. Two new projects, which are being signed - involving Petrobras and British Gas (BG) - should start the LEMI activities.

State-of-the-art equipments

New equipments with the latest technology will be purchased for the lab, such as a PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) system, high-speed camera recording system and Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) system, which performs accurate measurements of instantaneous local flow velocity. A Dual-Source Gamma Ray Densitometer is also being imported to make measurements of flow properties through nuclear techniques. "This type of instrumentation is common in chemistry and physics laboratories, and LEMI will be the only laboratory of fluid mechanics in Brazil to develop research with nuclear techniques," he says.

Although Petrobras has supported the infrastructure project of the laboratory, there isn’t an exclusive contract, and other demands from industry can also generate research projects. The agreements to come will be signed for cooperation in development of technological innovation and research, and will involve graduate students. "The laboratory, as a USP property, also aims to contribute to the development of academic projects in the context of teaching, basic research and extension, and will not offer privileges for consulting work for the oil industry" he says.

Aiming to the future of Brazil’s oil production scenario

According to Dr. Rodriguez, who is also a member of the Thematic Network of Modeling of Multiphase Flow in Pipes of Petrobras, the new lab will bring to the University more competitiveness in today's pre-salt scenario and exponentially increase the investments in research and innovation of multinational oil companies that are producing or will produce in Brazil. "Under current law, the oil companies have to invest a portion of its revenues on research in Brazilian public universities," he says.

The professor also explains that EESC is contributing significantly in the Upstream area - stage of the production chain of the oil industry prior to the refining, including prospecting, well engineering and production of oil - and will have a large gain of scientific productivity.

"With the strong tendency of displacement of the pre-salt exploration to the Santos Basin, in São Paulo's southern coast, EESC will be asked to collaborate even more for the development of technological solutions demanded by the industry," concludes Rodriguez.

For more information: (+5516) 3373-8026 or email oscarmhr@sc.usp.br directly to Professor Oscar Mauricio Hernandez Rodriguez.