Technology

AOT (Applied oil Technology)

Viscosity Reduction System

Solid state turn-key technology using a high volt / low amp electric field to reduce crude oil viscosity. Operates inline, unattended, with full remote monitoring and control.

How it Works

The AOT is the result of a multi-year research and development program conducted at Temple University with extensive design, fabrication and testing protocols involving over a dozen leading companies from all sectors of the energy industry. Harnessing the principles of electrorheology, the application of a high-strength electric field to change the mechanical behavior of fluids, the AOT system decreases the viscosity of petroleum by causing particulate matter such as paraffin, asphaltene, and other impurities to agglomerate together into nanoscale clusters thus reducing their surface volume.   By reducing the surface volume the friction/drag of the bulk fluid is reduced. Dr. Rongjia Tao, of Temple University’s Physics Department and a leading expert in the study of electrorheological fluids and magnetorheological suspension, is co-developer of the proprietary AOT viscosity reduction technology and has supervised laboratory testing of hundreds of petroleum samples, ranging from heavy bitumen to superlight condensates, in order to prove its efficacy.

AOT benefits

By significantly reducing viscosity on a wide spectrum of petroleum products, AOT delivers a variety of measurable operational efficiencies:

  • Increases maximum flow rates
  • Reduces operating pressure
  • Eliminate or minimize bottlenecks
  • Reduces pump station power consumption and CO2 emissions
  • 100% solid-state construction for maximum uptime with minimal maintenance
  • Provides opportunity for carbon credit and carbon tax benefits through decreased emissions and improved energy efficiencies
  • Turbulence suppression
  • Reduces pipe cleaning / pigging frequency
  • Increases safety margin
  • Reduce tanker truck unloading durations
  • Reduce railcar unloading durations

AOT has been inspected, certified, and approved to meet or exceed the specifications and quality control requirements of all applicable industrial testing and certification laboratories, leading midstream producers, and transportation entities, and has been deployed on multiple, high-volume pipelines.

Modular Design, Configurable to Customer Specifications

Comprised of an ASME-rated pressure vessel, AOT treats petroleum with an array of proprietary components that apply a precisely controlled electrical field to the flow. AOT can be scaled to suit many different types of installation requirements, including upstream production facilities, large-scale midstream pipelines, and mobile transportation and gathering systems. Additionally, QS Energy predicts that AOT can be utilized for offshore production facilities in the future.