Evaluation of Effect of Polymeric Pour Point Depressant Additives on Indian Waxy Crude Oil

Abstract

Wax deposition in oil production constitutes a critical and difficult-to-control problem in terms of productivity and production operation costs going from the reservoir to surface facilities. In the present work, four polymeric additives were prepared and used as pour point depressants (PPD) for Limbodara (Indian) crude oil via polymerization of different undecylenates with maleic anhydride with a further reaction with amine. The results are encouraging and show that prepared additives function both as wax dispersants and flow improvers due to the presence of polar groups in the structure. Cross–polarizing microscopic studies were performed to study changes in morphology of wax crystals in crude oil with and without additive. A zero-friction advanced rheometer AR-500 was used to determine the viscosity by applying Bingham plastic-flow model.