Measurement of wax appearance temperature using RGB image analysis and FBRM

Abstract

Considering the profit loss due to wax deposition in the petroleum industry and the fact that the wax appearance temperature (WAT) indicates the potential for these deposits to form, this work aims to present Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image analysis as a powerful tool with which to measure WAT. The technique proved to be efficient once the WAT values obtained agreed with focused beam reflectance measurements (FBRMs) and calorimetric measurements. In addition, the FBRM results showed that the paraffin wax crystallized at a cooling rate of 1 °C/min showed Ostwald ripening effect and tended to agglomerate on the vessel walls, while at 0.1 °C/min, it does not. The effect of cooling rate on paraffin size distribution throughout the crystallization process was verified, and it was observed that at 1 °C/min, paraffin wax continued to crystallize until 2 h after the WAT was reached. At 0.1 °C, the crystallization ceased as soon as the temperature stopped being decreased.