Eventos Anais de eventos
ENCIT 2016
16th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering
DRAG REDUCTION BY A MIXTURE OF POLYMERS AND FIBERS EXTRACTED FROM OKRA PODS IN TURBULENT PIPE FLOWS
Submission Author:
Eduardo Coelho , ES
Co-Authors:
Kelvin Barbosa, Edson Soares, Renato Siqueira
Presenter: Eduardo Coelho
doi://10.26678/ABCM.ENCIT2016.CIT2016-0094
Abstract
The drag reduction by dilute addition of high molecular weight polymers in a turbulent flow is an important phenomenon that has been extensively studied by many researchers in the last years. The application of this phenomenon represents a great potential benefit to many industrial processes. However, most of the polymers currently used as drag reduction agents are synthetic polymers, which are not biodegradable and have low resistance to turbulent shear forces. These facts encourage researches on the searching for natural biodegradable and more resistant polymers to replace the existing artificial ones. In the present work, the drag reduction efficiency of dilute aqueous solutions of a mixture of fibers and polymers extracted from okra pods is investigated. An experimental apparatus, consisting of a centrifugal pump and a loop pipe system, in which the main section of the test is made of stainless steel with polished treatment, is used. This apparatus has a magnetic flow meter and three pressure transducers for the collection of experimental data. The results are focused on the analysis of drag reduction effects produced by the variation of the solution concentration, namely 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 ppm. A maximum drag reduction capability of 72% was observed for the 800 ppm concentration solution. The drag reduction decrease, due to mechanical degradation as the flow passes repeatedly through the pipe apparatus, was also evaluated. And finally, the dilution time (up to 3 hours) and the biodegradation of the polymer with time were also investigated. The results confirm the efficient applicability of Okra as a drag reduction agent.
Keywords
drag reduction, polymers de-aggregation, turbulent flows, natural polymer, polymer concentration
