The influence of palm oil additives on the pour point and wax deposition tendencies of Chenor crude oil

Abstract

One of the major concerns during the production of crude oil especially in tropical waters is the deposition of wax on to the walls of the pipeline. This is due to the low seabed temperatures which can be below the wax appearance temperature (WAT) which leads to wax depositing out through molecular diffusion. Currently, there are many methods to prevent and remedy wax deposition but most of these solutions pose a serious environmental threat and are expensive to produce. Hence, this research investigated the use of an organic and cheaper alternative by utilizing synthetic fatty acid esters such as oleic acid which has shown promising results in reducing the pour point of waxy crude oils. The solution that was used was of palm oil origin, crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) and was subsequently compared with the pour point depressant and wax inhibition efficiency of the current industry used inhibitors utilizing the SETA Pour Point and Cloud Point as well as the cold finger apparatus. It was observed that the palm oil inhibitors were highly effective at 1 wt.% due to the high composition of oleic acid present portraying a similar result to Triethanolamine (TEA) while Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) performed best at low concentration of 0.1 wt.% but deteriorates significantly as the concentration increases due to the polar end agglomerating among itself.

Waste Plastic Nanomagnetite Pour Point Depressants for Heavy and Light Egyptian Crude Oil

“…Pour point depressants function by adhering to the wax crystals’ surface. The consequent surface layer of the pour point depressants stops wax crystals from growing, preventing them from absorbing oil and gelling. ,− The observed pour point temperatures of 0.25% PE + 1% MNPs, 0.25% PE + 2% MNPs, and 0.5% PE + 2% MNPs of heavy (B) crude oil and 0.25% PE + 2% MNPs, and 0.5% PE + 2% MNPs of light (A) crude oil samples were less than −36 °C. In contrast, the pour points of blank samples are +6 °C and + 27 °C for light and heavy crude oils, respectively.…”

Research Status and Outlook of Mechanism, Characterization, Performance Evaluation, and Type of Pour Point Depressants in Waxy Crude Oil: A Review

“…141 Azeem et al 142 combined olive oil with pentadecane and VA to generate a composite polymer, which inhibited wax deposition through a cocrystallization mechanism, and lowered the pour point by 8 °C at 1000 ppm. Ragunathan et al 143 studied the inhibitory effect of palm oil compared with that of the commercial PPD ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and reported that there was a critical concentration at which PPD decreased the pour point of crude oil. When the PPD exceeded the critical concentration, it aggregated and crystallized, increasing the pour point of crude oil.…”

Effective inhibition of crystal growth during wax deposition using CTAB‐grafted faujasite nanoparticles

“…To measure the wax deposition IE, a cold finger setup (CF) was used to simulate the wax deposition qualitatively in the field by applying a certain shear rate and temperature gradient of a waxy fluid. [19,[46][47][48][49] The CF setup apparatus is popular to use for wax deposition assessment because it is small in size, low in cost, less material intensive, and easy to operate. [46][47][48][49] Our used CF setup consists of a cylindrical glass finger with an outside diameter of 40 mm that is placed inside a cylindrical sampling vessel with a diameter of 99 mm, hot water sink, and water chiller (Figure 2).…”

“…[19,[46][47][48][49] The CF setup apparatus is popular to use for wax deposition assessment because it is small in size, low in cost, less material intensive, and easy to operate. [46][47][48][49] Our used CF setup consists of a cylindrical glass finger with an outside diameter of 40 mm that is placed inside a cylindrical sampling vessel with a diameter of 99 mm, hot water sink, and water chiller (Figure 2). The cylindrical glass finger is composed of a glass vacuum trap device that operates by internally circulating cold water (at 5 C) using the water chiller.…”