The rheological behavior of crude oil in the presence of palm oil additives

Thevaruban Ragunathan,Hazlina Husin,Jazeel Zaqwan,Colin D Wood

doi:10.1007/s13202-021-01193-3

Abstract

Wax precipitation has become a serious problem for the petroleum industry. The problem occurs when there is equilibrium disturbance on the pressure and temperature as well as crude oil composition. Wax deposits will eventually result in restriction of the fluid flow inside the pipeline, and severe deposition will cause blockage. The chemical additives currently being implemented in the industry have various limitations including the high cost and the irreversible impact it has on the environment. Therefore, the use of cheaper organic wax inhibitor obtained from crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) on the rheology and deposition of wax was investigated by using Chenor waxy crude oil from the Penyu basin, Pahang, Malaysia. To compare the efficiency of palm oil additives in inhibiting wax deposition, currently utilized chemical additives such as triethanolamine (TEA) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) were also examined. The pour point of the crude oil was determined using SETA cloud & cryostat, while the rheological behavior of the crude was determined using a rotational Fann viscometer. The results obtained from this study reveal that CPO and CPKO could be used to improve the flow of crude oil, especially when 1 wt.% CPO or when 0.5 wt. % CPKO is used. It was also noted that the palm-based additives were much more effective at reducing the viscosity of the Chenor crude oil than the commercial wax inhibitor tested (TEA and EVA).

Highlights

The petroleum industry is trying to find a cheaper solution to flow assurance problems that occur during the transportation of crude oil to justify the economical production of crude oil (Sadeq et al 2020; Ottha and Al-Jawad 2006; Brown 2002)
0.8033 g/cm3 44.65 API 35 °C 10 °C 8.26 efficiency of the palm oil additives to the commercially used wax inhibitor which are triethanolamine (TEA) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), where this study finds that the palm oil additives are more effective at reducing the viscosity of the Chenor crude oil than the commercial wax inhibitor tested
The results obtained from the rheological test prove that palm oil can be used to form a barrier to prevent the formation of wax crystal networks and hinder wax deposition as efficient as the commercial wax inhibitors

Summary

Introduction

The petroleum industry is trying to find a cheaper solution to flow assurance problems that occur during the transportation of crude oil to justify the economical production of crude oil (Sadeq et al 2020; Ottha and Al-Jawad 2006; Brown 2002). Among the flow assurance issue, the precipitation of wax inside the tubing and the pipeline during the production of crude oil is a major challenge. The deposition of wax onto the pipe wall causes the decrease in the tubing inner diameter, requiring higher pressure to transport the crude oil through the pipeline. Due to this pressure drop during the production and transportation process, a decrease in the oil flowrate will be observed (Anisuzzaman et al 2017). Crude oil consists mainly of asphaltenes, aromatic, resins and saturates, while the main component of saturates is paraffin

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Conclusion