LI Chuanxian, BAI Fan, WANG Yan. Influence of crude oil composition on wax deposition on tubing wall[J]. CIESC Journal, 2014, (11): 4571-4578.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.0438-1157.2014.11.051.
The wax deposition was studied for man-made crude oil with various compositions (different contents of resin
asphaltene and wax) under various conditions in a rotary wax deposition facility. The influence of the compositions was explored by sediment sampling from tubing wall
analyzing with the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and using four components method. Combined with mechanism of the wax deposition initiated by resin and asphaltene
it was found that lower content resin and asphaltene in crude oil could have a synergistic effect with paraffin molecules on the wax deposition
while for higher content resin and asphaltene they were attached to the pipe wall in the form of paste
although the existence of resin and asphaltene could weaken the driving force for paraffin molecule migration and impede deposition of paraffin molecules. The results obtained from studying on the effect of various wax contents on wax deposition showed that higher average carbon number of paraffin molecules in man-made crude oil was
less content of wax in the wax layer deposited. But the paraffin molecules with more carbon number could take place eutectic roles with resin and asphaltene easily
due to they were of longer carbon chain
leading to they was easier to deposit on the pipe wall with resin and asphaltene together.