This doesn't make sense to me.
In this scenario, the AOT will only ever work when it is all along a line AND the oil ENTERS the pipeline already having been treated. I.e. it requires an upstream solution, from the gathering lines. But in real life it has to be untreated before it gets put in a pipe, even in gathering lines. So how would the AOT ever have an effect? There will always be a time when it's in a pipe before it hits an AOT.
I still do not understand the refutation of the efficiency conjecture I have made. A final time, it's like this (all numbers made up):
1) Oil is pumping through a 9 mile stretch.
2) AOT is attached at mile 3, with the effect to last until mile 6
3) The line is pumping 100 barrels a minute at 1200 PSI
4) AOT is switched on. Now 3 miles of that oil are of a lower viscosity.
5) As soon as the AOT is switched on the pressure being created by the pump begins to drop, until all the middle third of the pipe's oil is treated, when the pressure stabilises at a dropped level. Now we're moving 100 barrels a minute at 900 psi (for example). The reason the pressure on the pump is reduced is because a third of what it is pushing against is now less viscous - i.e. less friction. So it has to work less hard to move the same amount through.
6) We turn the psi of the pump back up to 1200.
7) We're now able to move 120 barrels of oil through the pipe.
The above was my understanding of how it worked. However, I'm having a lot of trouble visualizing it. For example, to move more volume through, you need the substance to be moving faster. Can it just move faster through one third of the pipe, then somehow slow back down again? In this scenario, the oil in both the A and the C sections of the pipe would of necessity have had to increase in speed. In fact, all of A, B, and C sections would need to flow at the increased speed. This speed would be not as fast as if the whole 9 mile stretch was treated, but it would be faster than if non were treated. Is this not allowed? I thought the speed of the oil in the pipe was a function of the pressure and friction.
The related question is: If I have a 1 mile piece of pump, from pump to empty, a 2 mile piece, a 3 mile piece, etc., up to 10 or 100 - and my goal is simply to push oil from a well into another well through a pump, can I move it faster through the 1 mile section than the 10 mile (WITH THE SAME PUMP PRESSURE)? I.e., with the one mile, the friction I have to overcome is only one mile of oil long. But the 10 mile has much more friction, so I'd need a more forceful pump, right? But if I could only run them all at 1000 psi, then I think I will have been able to push more through the 1 mile than I would in the 10 mile - because the oil in the 10 mile would move slower, because it's created much more drag. Is this wrong?
The answer to the above would bear on the AOT scenario. A key concept would have to be that there is no 'maximum' speed at which the oil can go through. for example, if you had a magic pump that could push oil at 1,000,000 PSI, then you could move massive amounts through a pipe, forget the friction. What the AOT does is reduce some of the friction during the course of a pipeline journey, so you get a pressure drop on your pump. Now, we turn the pump back up and voilà, we have more volume.
Can you please explain what I am fundamentally failing to understand here? I am really confused, and I want to know where I'm wrong.
By the way, are you a fluids engineer, or is this somewhere in the realm of your professional competencies? If I am wrong about this, I desperately need to know, and I need to know exactly why. If there is a possibility that you are mistaken, that would be good to know, too. I have no background in this field, but am just trying to use reason to visualize and work through what is going on.
