Analysis of the sequential transportation of oil batches with differentviscosities through a technological segment of a main oil pipeline

This paper presents an approach to optimizing the transportation of two crude oils with differing viscosities by forming two batches and pumping them sequentially through a segment of a trunk pipeline.The study accounts for the effect of viscosity on flow rate and demonstrates that, under certain assumptions, only two strategies are practically feasible: full blending or sequential pumping without intermixing.It is shown that the closer the viscosity-composition relationship is to linear additivity, the more energy-efficient the sequential mode becomes.A selection criterion based on laboratory measurements is proposed.A practical method is developed for choosing the optimal strategy, considering operational constraints and the required transportation schedule.