Wax appearance temperature study of model waxy oils: influence of nanofluids prepared with iron magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

Wax deposition creates many problems in the crude oil production, storage and transportation. The present work is in line with the efforts being made to address wax deposition issues. Nanofluids were prepared with different concentrations of the Fe-magnetic nanoparticles (Fe-MNPs). The same were used to monitor the wax appearance temperature (WAT) of the model waxy oil samples through pour point and differential scanning calorimetry in comparison to the control sample. The effect of increase in the amount of nanofluid and concentration of the Fe-MNPs in the nanofluid had the synergistic effect and the nanofluid prepared with 5% Fe-MNPs exhibited the most positive effect on the reduction of pour point. The results demonstrated that the nanofluid decreased the WAT and increased the flowability and could be used successfully as potential flow improver for real crude oils in industry for controlling the wax deposition issues.