Wax Deposition of Water-in-crude Oil Emulsion in a Flow-loop Apparatus

Abstract

This research focused on the wax deposition of water-in-oil dispersed flow with different water cuts in the flow-loop and high temperature gas chromatography analyze the deposit. The viscosity and gelation point of emulsions increase with water cut. The role of gelation in the emulsion wax deposition becomes more and more significant with lower temperature of oil and pipe wall and higher water cuts. But the enhancement of gelation increases the water cut of deposit and reduces the wax content of deposit. The experiments show that deposit thickness will decrease first and then increase as water cut increases.