The study of mass diffusion in cold-finger equipment during wax deposition analysis: article

An investigation has been made to study the effect of inhibitors on the mass diffusion in cold-finger equipment during wax deposition analysis. Wax deposition occurs at many stages in the production of crude oil along pipelines. Most of petroleum productions of every oil field exist in the form of water in oil emulsion. The present of interfacial barrier prevent coalescence of the dispersed water droplets. This is due to present of asphaltenes and wax in crude oil. Wax deposition in surface and subsurface pipelines reduces the oil flow area, increases the friction loss and power costs. This situation may lead to higher pressure in the case of a re-start after transmission stop, and can even lead to wax solidification in the pipeline, resulting in great economy losses. The effective way to predict the amount of wax deposition in pipeline is chemical method. This study had two types of inhibitors, three variations of temperature, three different time and three variations of concentration of the inhibitors.