Ice Crystals Cause Problems Inside Oil Box

[cavegal]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/08/ice-crystals-cause-problems-inside-oil-box/ 

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO -- Icelike crystals encrusting the walls of a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box meant to contain oil gushing from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico forced crews Saturday to back off a long-shot plan to contain the leak.

The buildup inside the specially constructed containment box made it too buoyant and clogged it up, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said. Workers who had carefully lowered the massive box over the leak nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) below the surface had to lift it and move it to the side. Now they're trying to unplug it while they look at other solutions.

More than 200,000 gallons (757,000 liters) per day of crude have spewed into the Gulf since a rig exploded April 20, killing 11. The containment box, a method never before attempted at such depths, had been considered the best hope of stanching the flow in the short term.

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," Suttles said. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."

The blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation.

[Chris]

Ice.  Well, there's something you don't see every day.

[Chris_]

Ice.  Well, there's something you don't see every day.

The water (sea/salt water) temperature at that depth is likely a couple of degrees below the freezing point for fresh water......any moisture contained in the crude, or the methane leaking from the wellhead is going to freeze on contact with the enclosure........they should have anticipated that.......poor engineering brought on by haste.....

My guess is that they will need to rig a line to pump either steam, or superheated water into the enclosure to warm it up......which creates its own set of engineering challenges, since it's a mile down......

doc

[The Village Idiot]

So the idea was to place a giant plunger over the leak and suck the oil up a tube?

[Chris]

Pretty much.

[Chris_]

So the idea was to place a giant plunger over the leak and suck the oil up a tube?

That is essentially it......it looks like a giant square inverted funnel......

doc

[The Village Idiot]

OK. Glad that is all cleared up.