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

Abstract

AbstractIn this work, we developed cetrimonium bromide (CTAB)‐grafted faujasite nanoparticles (C‐g‐F) as wax inhibitors for the deposits that were formed from a model oil system consisting of 5 wt.% paraffin wax in toluene. Our developed nanomaterials were fully characterized, hydrophobically modified, and their deposition inhibition performance compared with virgin CTAB was investigated in a model waxy oil through cold finger setup (CF), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), cold flow yield strength, and cross‐polarized microscopy (CPM). Applying our nano‐inhibitors at a concentration of 100 ppm led to more than 50 wt.% inhibition and a 30% reduction of deposit cold yield strength. Interestingly, the presence of FAU nanoparticles in the core structure of C‐g‐F contributed to better dispersibility, enhancing surface wettability (reducing interfacial tension with wax crystals), facilitating inhibitions, and preventing co‐crystallization greater than the surfactant alone. The morphological analysis results showed that C‐g‐F, due to their novel surface features, could suppress the unordered wax crystals from networking, resulting in uniform spherical‐like wax aggregates. Hence, the application of tiny concentrations of C‐g‐F (10 to 300 ppm) outperformed stand‐alone surfactants in nucleating the wax crystals.