Wax deposition in oil pipelines

Carter, Rebecca and Evans, Jonathan and Richardson, Giles (2007) Wax deposition in oil pipelines. European Study Group with Industry > 56th ESGI [Bath 3/4/2006 - 7/4/2006].

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Abstract/Summary

This is the final report on the problem of wax deposition in oil pipelines, brought to ESGI56 by Norsk Hydro.

Item Type:	Study Group Report
Study Group:	European Study Group with Industry > 56th ESGI [Bath 3/4/2006 - 7/4/2006]
Company Name:	Norsk Hydro
Industrial Sector:	Energy and utilities
Additional Contributors:	Halvorsen, Svenn Anton and Bailey, Clare and Bell, Christopher and Booth, Richard and Chiu-Webster, Sunny and Dyson, Rosemary and Gramberg, Heike and Hanche-Olsen, Harald and Jones, Gareth and Levy, Rachel and Lisseter, Pamela and Morones, Rafael and Novikovs, Andrejs and Ockendon, Hilary and Ockendon, John and Smith, Warren and Stockie, John and Tewkesbury, Heather and Van der Hout, Rein and Vella, Dominic and Woollard, Hannah
ID Code:	105
Deposited By:	Richard Booth
Deposited On:	20 June 2007

Problem Statement

In oil extraction from the North Sea, one problem is the build up of wax in undersea pipelines. When the oil temperature is 60–70°C, all the wax is dissolved, but as the temperature drops below 35–40°C, wax solidifies onto the walls of the pipe, restricting the flow. Norsk Hydro wish to understand the physical processes involved, and to understand some experimental results on wax deposition. The Study Group showed that modelling the problem using kinetic undercooling and shear-induced diffusion gave results in broad agreement with the experiments.

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