PhD Candidate
Flow Assurance
Nasir graduated with a Bachelor of Chemical & Process Engineering degree at NED University of Engineering & Technology Karachi, Pakistan in 2015 and a Master of Professional Engineering degree majored in Chemical Engineering at UWA in 2018. His research focus is Controllable Hydrate Slurry Flow in Subsea Tiebacks using Biocompatible Anti-Agglomerants.
Undesirable formation of gas hydrates in subsea oil and gas pipelines is one of the major flow assurance concerns. Strategies in the past had been to avoid hydrate formation by injecting thermodynamic hydrate inhibitors (THIs) in pipelines. While effective, the high dosage requirement of THIs (40-60 vol. %) makes such operations economically impractical. Low dosage hydrate inhibitors (LDHIs ≤ 2 wt %) offer a great promise in this direction. However, the high level of eco-toxicity and limited biodegradability of the commercially available LDHIs has been one of the major environmental concern. Previously a study at UWA Fluid Sciences & Resources Division led to the development of a novel class of non-ionic surfactant (AAs) which outperformed the current industry AAs by effectively reducing the hydrate-hydrate cohesive force. As a Research Student in this study, Nasir studied the interfacial behaviour of gas hydrates in the presence of a wide range of AAs using a state-of-the-art technology called Micromechanical Force (MMF) Apparatus. Now as a PhD student, he is assessing the performance of the newly developed AAs in a high pressure, low temperature and high shear environment mimic to subsea oil and gas pipeline.
This study will provide a valuable scale-up corroboration for behaviour observed at the microscopic level while MMF studies. Furthermore, this research will provide a fundamental understanding toward the hydrate slurry transport and phase behaviour which will improve the safety, reliability, and economic feasibility of offshore operations.
