López Daniel, Ríos As A, Marín Juan D, Zabala Richard D, Rincon Jaime A, Lopera Sergio H, Franco Camilo A, Cortés Farid B
Grupo de Investigación en Fenómenos de Superficie-Michael Polanyi, Departamento de Procesos y Energía, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín, Medellín 050034, Colombia.
Departamento de Ingeniería, Gerencia de Desarrollo y Producción, Vicepresidencia Piedemonte, Ecopetrol SA CPF Floreña, Yopal, Piedecuesta 681011, Colombia.
ACS Omega. 2023 Sep 8;8(37):33289-33298. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c00802. eCollection 2023 Sep 19.
Wax deposition in high-wax (waxy) crude oil has been an important challenge in the oil and gas industry due to the repercussions in flow assurance during oil extraction and transportation. However, the nanotechnology has emerged as a potential solution for the optimization of conventional wax removal and/or inhibition processes due to its exceptional performance in the alteration of wax morphology and co-crystallization behavior. In this sense, this study aims to study the performance of two commercial wax inhibitor treatments (WT1 and WT2) on the wax formation and crystallization due to the addition of SiO nanoparticles. Differential scanning calorimetry experiments and cold finger tests were carried out to study the effect of the WT on wax appearance temperature (WAT) and the wax inhibition efficiency (WIE) in a scenario with an initial temperature difference. In the first stage, the behavior of both WT in the inhibition of wax deposition was achieved, ranging in the concentration of the WT in the waxy crude (WC) oil from 5000 to 50,000 mg·L. Then, NanoWT was prepared by the addition of SiO nanoparticles on WT1 and WT2 for concentrations between 1000 and 500 mg·L, and the performance of the prepared NanoWT was studied at the best concentration of WIT in the absence of nanoparticles. Finally, the role of the nanofluid concentration in wax inhibition was accomplished for the best NanoWT. Selected NanoWT with nanoparticle dosage of 100 mg·L added to WC oil at 5000 mg·L displays reductions in WAT and WIE of 15.3 and 71.6 for NanoWT1 and -2.2 and 42.5% for NanoWT2. In flow loop experiments for the crude oil at temperatures above (30 °C) and below (16 °C), the WAT value indicates an increase of 8.3 times the pressure drops when the crude oil is flowing at a temperature below the WAT value. Therefore, when NanoWT1 is added to the crude oil, a reduction of 31.8% was found in the pressure drop in comparison with the scenario below the WAT value, ensuring the flow assurance in the pipeline in an unfavorable environment. Based on the pressure-drop method, a reduction greater than 5% in the wax deposit thickness confirms the wax deposition inhibitory character of the designed NanoWT.
在石油和天然气行业中，高蜡原油中的蜡沉积一直是一个重大挑战，因为它会对石油开采和运输过程中的流动保障产生影响。然而，纳米技术因其在改变蜡形态和共结晶行为方面的卓越性能，已成为优化传统蜡去除和/或抑制工艺的潜在解决方案。从这个意义上讲，本研究旨在研究两种商业蜡抑制剂处理方法（WT1和WT2）在添加SiO纳米颗粒后对蜡形成和结晶的性能。进行了差示扫描量热实验和冷指试验，以研究在存在初始温差的情况下，蜡抑制剂对蜡出现温度（WAT）和蜡抑制效率（WIE）的影响。在第一阶段，实现了两种蜡抑制剂在抑制蜡沉积方面的行为，蜡抑制剂在含蜡原油（WC）中的浓度范围为5000至50000 mg·L。然后，通过在WT1和WT2中添加浓度为1000至500 mg·L的SiO纳米颗粒制备了纳米蜡抑制剂（NanoWT），并在不存在纳米颗粒时蜡抑制剂的最佳浓度下研究了制备的纳米蜡抑制剂的性能。最后，针对最佳的纳米蜡抑制剂，研究了纳米流体浓度在蜡抑制中的作用。在含蜡原油中添加剂量为100 mg·L的选定纳米蜡抑制剂，当纳米蜡抑制剂1和2的浓度为5000 mg·L时，蜡出现温度降低了15.3 ，蜡抑制效率降低了71.6 ；纳米蜡抑制剂2的蜡出现温度降低了2.2 ，蜡抑制效率降低了42.5%。在高于（30℃）和低于（16℃）原油温度的流动环路实验中，蜡出现温度值表明，当原油在低于蜡出现温度值的温度下流动时，压力降增加了8.3倍。因此，当向原油中添加纳米蜡抑制剂1时，与低于蜡出现温度值的情况相比，压力降降低了31.8%，确保了在不利环境下管道中的流动保障。基于压力降方法，蜡沉积物厚度减少超过5%证实了所设计的纳米蜡抑制剂具有抑制蜡沉积的特性。
