Wax Deposition Prediction inside Pipeline

Abstract

Crude oil has long been one of the major energy sources in the world. Heavy oil is predicted as the future of the petroleum industry, research and development are increased massively in line with the discovery of the heavy oil reserves around the world. Heavy oil has asphaltenes and paraffin fractions very high, with the high content of paraffin is one of the problems that occur in the operation of heavy oil production is found to have deposition on the wall of pipes. This paper will be discussed about the
simulation of the formation of wax deposits on the wall of the pipe, the known starting point of deposition at pipe wall will be additional information to perform the design of the method or what to do to mitigate in order to avoid these deposition problems.

Literature study became an option as a supporting for of paper writing, a case study chosen as the base for this research. The selected case is placed in West Java, Indonesia, which has a fairly high paraffin content. Dynamic multiphase flow Software is used to help with predictive modelling, from the simulation process can get the results of wax deposition along pipeline, the maximum thickness of wax deposit, and a temperature. From the results obtained, it can be used as an additional information for
equipment selection consideration.

After analyzing the sensitivity of the simulation results, the equipment and materials can be selected effective, efficient, and also economical to use in this case. After analyzing the result, it can be concluded to select steel-based pipe material using insulation to reduced excessive heat release, and then the temperature reduction can be minimized.