Research progress on radial properties of wax deposits in crude oil pipelines

Research progress on radial properties of wax deposits in crude oil pipelines

Crude oil

Petroleum pipelines

Microstructure

Porous materials

Predictive analytics

Deposits

Petroleum deposits

The properties of wax deposits significantly impact crude oil pipeline pigging operation, and this topic has become a hotspot in flow assurance research. This paper reviews the recent research progress on the radial properties of wax deposits in crude oil pipelines and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the current experimental methods. The understanding and conclusions of the radial properties of wax deposits were expounded from four aspects: composition, wax precipitation characteristics, macroscopic appearance and microstructure, as well as mechanical properties. Meanwhile, the intrinsic influencing factors and acting mechanism were analyzed. The theoretical foundations and shortcomings of wax molecular diffusion coefficient and radial wax content distribution models were evaluated. Finally, the future research directions were presented: mechanical sampling device with higher accuracy needs to be developed, the influencing mechanism and quantitative relation between the macroscopic rheological properties of wax deposits and their microstructure characteristics need to be revealed, and predictive models of radial properties of wax deposits considering the diffusion kinetics of wax molecules in the porous media need to be established. 2021, Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All right reserved.

3679-3692

7

40

Huagong Jinzhan/Chemical Industry and Engineering Progress

2021

Fan, Kaifeng

Li, Si

Huang, Qiyu

Wan, Yufei

journalArticle

10006613

10.16085/j.issn.1000-6613.2020-1657