| 초록 |
Wax deposition in pipelines is one of the worst flow assurance problems in petroleum industry. Typically, wax is composed of normal paraffin crystals and its appearance is dependent of temperature, concentration of wax, type of oil media, etc. There are a number of methods applied to prevent wax deposition, including heating, insulation, pigging of transportation lines, and wax diluents. Most of the methods rely on the control of saturation level but require capital cost for heating pipelines or operation cost for huge amount of diluents. In this study, some ethylene copolymer additives, which could act as kinetic inhibitors with a small dosage, were used to control the crystallization of model wax (n-dotriacontane) in decane solution. Their influence on nucleation, growth, and morphology was investigated by optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and rheometer techniques. |
