As the United States transports ever-increasing amounts of oil by train and gears up for exporting liquified natural gas overseas, a $5 latte could hold the answer for how to do it more safely.
That’s the lesson from a new scientific study titled “Damping of liquid sloshing by foams” in the journal Physics of Fluids. Study author Emily Dressaire, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at New York University, began her inquiry when a barista handed her a Starbucks latte and said she wouldn’t need a cap to prevent spills.
For any morning commuter who has dared do battle with a regular cup o’ joe and lived to tell about it (without stained trousers), the study is invaluable. It might also be useful for the energy industry, the study’s authors noted, as it found foam decreased “sloshing” that in turn relieved pressure on container walls.
“If the amplitude of sloshing becomes large enough, spilling, splashing, and/or drop formation are possible. Such phenomenon can lead to challenging technical constraints in various applications including the transportation of oil and liquefied gas in tankers. Indeed, the sloshing dynamics leads to considerable pressure forces on the walls of a container and can be a source of destabilization or failure of a container,” said the study.
Energy producers could take heed. The U.S. is preparing to expand liquefied natural gas exports, as domestic production has surged to make America the world’s top natural gas producer thanks to technological advances in hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — technology.
The study also comes as the White House is reviewing final rules on transporting crude oil by railroad, and just weeks after a 27 cars on a 109-unit train carrying oil derailed and exploded in Mount Carbon, W.Va., with some of the oil ending up in the Kanawha River.
The rule is expected to contain new requirements for packing and shipping oil, as well as for classifying crude emanating from the prolific Bakken shale region in North Dakota and Montana that federal regulators believe is more flammable than other varieties.
Carloads of crude riding the rails have jumped from 10,800 per day in 2009 to more than 400,000 in 2013, according to the American Association of Railroads. Regulators are trying to toughen safety features for tanker cars — potentially thickening tanker walls, including new braking mechanisms and implementing speed limits — while retiring legacy models.
