Solids Deposition from Paraffinic Mixtures: Investigation of 'Cold Flow' in Pipelines

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Most energy consumption forecasts suggest a continued growth in the worldwide petroleum demand. However, new crude oil reservoirs are deep, located offshore and contain heavy oils, with complex and costly infrastructure and operations. One serious challenge with deep-water petroleum production is the solids or wax deposition, which is known to cause plugging of pipelines and process equipment, requiring hundreds of millions of dollars annually for its control and remediation. Pipelines are known to have been abandoned because of becoming plugged with wax deposit. Wax deposition is a complex process, involving liquid-to-solid phase transformation of paraffins, which is influenced by cooling or crystallization rates, shear stress, the rate of heat transfer, and the oil composition.