Lyon site
The Lyre loop: a dedicated Flow Assurance facility at Lyon site
The Lyre loop is dedicated to the study of Flow Assurance issues under conditions as close as possible to those in the field, with live oils, exact flow pressures and cold temperatures, and flow in multiphase conditions.
Operating conditions
The Lyre loop is 140 meter long. Its inside diameter is 2 inches (5 cm). It is fully temperature-controlled from 50°C down to 0°C (122°F– 32°F) and operates at pressures up to 100 bar (1450 psi).
Instrumentation
It is fully instrumented to measure pressure drops, temperatures, and flow rates, with vortex or Coriolis flowmeters for the gas and liquid phases. Gas balances are performed during hydrate formation thanks to pressure and temperature monitoring of the gas reserve tanks.
It also includes specific equipment such as an embedded camera,gamma-ray densitometers, and a FBRM (Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement) particle size analyzer. Its instrumentation is regularly upgraded.
Various flow regimes - single liquid or gas flow, stratified, slug, annular flow - can be managed by accurate control of the flowrate of each phase.
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Photos : © P. Chevrolat / Photo France
The Lyre loop is available for studies and development work on a partnership or contract basis.
Contact : Exploration-Production@ifpen.fr
