Experimental study on the effect of asphaltenes on wax removal rate.

Asphaltenes are the most polar component with the largest average molecular mass in crude oil, and they are important to investigate the effect of the interfacial activity of asphaltene on the efficiency of wax removal. In order to investigate the effect of in-situ asphaltene utilization on the wax removal rate, a dynamic wax removal device is developed. The effects of the asphaltene mass fraction, the water temperature, the cold finger temperature, and the rotation speed of a rotating cylinder on the wax removal rate of the pipeline at a specific mass fraction are investigated. The results show that the wax removal rate increases and then decreases with the increase in asphaltenes mass fraction, and the maximum rate is 3.5%. The wax removal rate considerably increases at 3.5% asphaltenes mass fraction with the increase in the water temperature; the increase in cold finger temperature and the rotation speed of rotating cylinder also contributes to the wax removal increase in rate. The optimal wax removal rate was 5.8 g/min by orthogonal test. In addition, the wax removal rate increased significantly with the increase in water temperature; the increase in cold finger temperature and the increase in rotor speed also contributed to the increase in wax removal rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]