Abstract
The laboratory method for predicting the amount and composition of sludge accumulated during crude oil storage on the bottom of a high capacity storage tank has been developed and tested. The laboratory model of the storage tank on a scale of 1:20 was designed with the assumption of a 20-fold acceleration of the process of sedimentation of wax particles and, thus, the formation of a bottom sludge. The results of the model and industrial scale (in the high capacity tank) storage of a Russian export blend crude oil were compared and excellent agreement was found. The developed method was used to evaluate an Iran Light crude oil and a blend of crude oils, Azeri Light, and CPC. The diametrically different behaviour of the compared crude oils during their model storage was ascribed to the different paraffinic particles size distributions and rheologic properties. The correlation between the composition of the crude oil and its tendency to form a sludge at the bottom of the storage tank was not found.
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