ABSTRACT

Paraffin wax deposition is a serious problem of long standing in the oil and gas industry. Paraffin wax is usually allowed to precipitate and deposit. Chemical additives are used in some situations to prevent the agglomeration of precipitated wax. Paraffin wax particles are known to stabilize oil-water emulsions, making gas-oil-water separation in processing facilities difficult. The temperature at which paraffin wax starts to precipitate, is called the wax appearance temperature (WAT). The paraffin wax that precipitates from crude oil and gas condensate, consists of a distribution of normal alkanes such that the heaviest molecules deposit first, thereafter lighter and lighter molecules. Measurements on mixtures of paraffin wax in refined oil were reported by Abdel-Waly. The reported measurements serve as an example of paraffin wax in liquid hydrocarbons. The weight distributions of paraffin wax in three crude oils were presented by Taiwo et al.