An experimental design approach for investigating the effects of operating factors on the wax deposition in pipelines

An experimental study is conducted to determine the wax deposition potential of three waxy crude oils during laminar flow in a pipeline system. The Taguchi experimental design approach is used to evaluate the influence of important operating factors such as inlet crude oil temperature, temperature difference between the oil and the pipe wall (Delta T), the flow rate of crude oil, wax content and time on wax deposition phenomena. It is found that the parameter Delta T and flow rate have maximum and minimum percentage of contribution on the amount of deposited wax, respectively. The results demonstrate that a waxy crude oil with higher wax content could lead the more deposited solid wax in transportation lines. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that wax appearance temperature (WAT) and solid content of the deposit were increased as deposition time increased. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.