Influence of gas injection on phase inversion in an oil–water flow through a vertical tube

An experimental study has been made of the influence of gas injection on the phase inversion between oil and water flowing through a vertical tube. Particular attention was paid to the influence on the critical concentration of oil and water where phase inversion occurs and on the pressure drop increase over the tube during phase inversion. By using different types of gas injectors also the influence of the bubble size of the injected gas on the phase inversion was studied. It was found that gas injection does not significantly change the critical concentration, but the influence on the pressure drop is considerable. For mixture velocities larger than 1 m/s, the pressure drop over the tube increases with decreasing bubble size and at inversion can become even larger than the pressure drop during the flow of oil and water without gas injection.