Thermodynamic Modeling of Wax Precipitation in Crude Oils

Most of the crude oils contain waxes which precipitate when temperature drops, resulting in deposition in pipelines and production equipment. It is necessary to set up a model which can predict the wax appearance tem-perature and the amount of solid precipitated in the different conditions. A modified thermodynamic solid-liquid equilibrium model to calculate wax precipitation in crude oil systems has been developed recently. The assumption that precipitated waxes consist of several solid phases is adopted in this research, and the solid-solid transition is also considered in the modified model. The properties of the pseudo-components are determined by using empirical correlations. New correlations for properties of solid-solid and solid-liquid transitions are also established in this work on the basis of the data from the literature. The results predicted by the proposed model for three crude oil systems are compared with the experimental data and the calculated results from the literature, and good agreement is observed.

Investigation of wax precipitation in crude oil:Experimental and modeling

In this work,a series of experiments were carried to investigation of rheological behavior of crude oil using waxy crude oil sample in the absence/presence of flow improver such as ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.The rheological data covered the temperature range of 5e30
C.The results indicated that the performance of flow improver was dependent on its molecular weight.Addition of small quantities of flow improver,can improve viscosity and pour point of crude oil.Also,an Artificial Neural Network(ANN)model using Multi-Layer Perceptron(MLP)topology has been developed to account wax appearance temperature and the amount of precipitated wax and the model was verified using experimental data given in this work and reported in the literature.In order to compare the performance of the proposed model based on Artificial Neural Network,the wax precipitation experimental data at different temperatures were predicted using solid solution model and multi-solid phase model.The results showed that the developed model based on Artificial Neural Network can predict more accurately the wax precipitation experimental data in comparison to the previous models such as solid solution and multi-solid phase model with AADs less than 0.5%.Furthermore,the number of parameters required for the Artificial Neural Network(ANN)model is less than the studied thermodynamic models.

The Possibility of Wax Formation in Gas Fields:a Case Study

Natural gas production from a gas reservoir （Reservoir A） located in the south of Iran, presents solids deposition during processing because the condensate contains suspended and dissolved solids. Solids deposition occurs not only in the transportation lines from the wells to the separators but also in the various operating units of gas streams and condensate stream. In this study, the multisolid-phase model has been used to predict the wax precipitation from gas and gas condensate fluids. The properties of gas and liquid phases are described using the Soave-Redlich-Kwong （SRK） equation of state. The model is then used to predict the possibility of the wax formation in Reservoir A gas facilities, located at the south of Iran. Solid deposition which occurred in the various streams of that facility confirmed the calculated results. Finally, the wax appearance temperature （WAT）, the weight percent of wax formation and the effects of pressure and temperature on the wax formation were also predicted.

The Stability Criterion Model and Stability Analysis of Waxy Crude Oil Pipeline Transportation System Based on Excess Entropy Production

Based on the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, considering the dynamic effect of molecular diffusion and the change in thermodynamic parameters caused by wax precipitation, the phenomenological relations of different thermodynamic "force" and "flow" interactions were derived. The corresponding thermodynamic model of a waxy crude oil pipeline transportation system was built, and then, the excess entropy production expression was proposed. Furthermore, the stability criterion model of the pipeline transportation system was established on the basis of Lyapounov stability theory. Taking the oil pipeline in Daqing oilfield as an example, based on the four parameters of out-station temperature, out-station pressure, flow rate and water content, the stable and unstable regions of the system were divided, and the formation mechanisms of the two different regions were analyzed. The experimental loop device of wax deposition rate was designed, and then, the wax deposition rate under the four parameters was measured. The results showed that the stable region of the wax deposition rate fluctuation was basically in accordance with the stability region analyzed by the criterion model established in this paper, which proved that the stability criterion model was feasible for analyzing the stability of the waxy crude oil pipeline transportation process.