Gib, you are at least a half-baked engineer so you should understand a little bit of physics too.
As you probably know by now, BP is doing the obvious and putting a big diving bell over the top of the gushing oil.
It will fill with oil and the oil will run through a pipe to the surface. That will be a gusher!! A brand new production technique.
CB/Ilaine's overwrought and heartfelt reaction to the supposed environmental catastrophe is based on her being misled by the media who love a great story and the anti-multinational BIG OIL brigade who froth at the mouth at the mention of BIG OIL.
So far, there seems to be not much environmental damage. It seems unlikely to amount to much at all.
The density of the oil being spilled is [I guess] about 0.9 kg per litre. Sea water is 1.03 kg per litre.
At about 1500 metres depth [I forget the exact depth], the force pushing the oil up in an 11 cm diameter pipe will be about 0.130 kilograms per metre = 1500 x 0.130 = 200 kg = it will flow by itself into a barge. A bit of pumping might be needed depending on how rapid the flow is because of friction in the pipe, or a bigger diameter pipe, or half a dozen 10cm pipes - whatever is needed.
The oil would float to the surface through a pipe.
700,000 litres per day isn't a big deal. That's only 30,000 litres per hour or 500 litres per minute. I could handle it myself, singlehandedly. They refuel Formula 1 cars faster than that. With a pipeline 11cm diameter the flow rate wouldn't be very fast at all.
Put a bit of D'Arcy friction factor in the equation to see if there is some pumping needed: engineeringtoolbox.com
Maybe a smaller pipeline would be better, with more pumping, or a few pipelines. Mere details ... no worry.
The real story is the loss of the platform and the people killed in the disaster and the economic loss of the production.
The environmental "catastrophe" is vastly over-rated.
The worst aspect is that people will conclude that offshore drilling is catastrophic, with costs unable to be borne, when in fact the proportion of problems is minor if not quite insignificant. They will do dopey things such as burning food in SUVs instead of oil, thereby causing starvation and a LOT more deaths than happened on the platform. Those deaths will happen quietly, unobserved by the frothing media and politicians who will not care a whit. Barack is thrilled to be able to put his "boot on BP's throat", showing those Anglos who is boss. It seems he should get his boot on Amendiejihad's throat, not BP's, but he talks nice to them... not wanting to offend Moslems.
Mqurice |
