A study on the use of plant seed oils, triethanolamine and xylene as flow improvers of Nigerian waxy crude oil

Abstract

Chemical methods are the most convenient and economical for wax precipitation and deposition prevention. The chemical additives so far in use have varied limitations, ranging from high cost to limited spread of crude oil that a particular additive can handle. The influence of cheaper natural chemicals, obtained from plant seeds (jatropha -JSO, rubber -RSO and castor -CSO) on the rheological properties and wax deposition tendencies of Nigerian waxy crude oil were investigated. Previously tested synthetic chemical additives (triethanolamine -TEA and xylene) were simultaneously examined too on the crude oils for comparative study. Four different crude oil samples obtained from Niger Delta region of Nigeria used for the study were characterized to obtain their hydrocarbon composition, wax content, pour points, viscosities, specific gravity and APIg using standard methods. The rheological properties such as apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity, yield stress were determined for the crude oils doped and undoped with the chemical additives using Fann V-G Standard Viscometer. The results obtained revealed that oils from the three seeds could be used as flow improvers and pour depressants for Nigerian waxy crude oil. Jatropha and castor seed oils depressed the pour point than the previously investigated triethanolamine. They are capable of depressing the pour point up to about 17 • C, and they can also reduce the viscosity of the waxy crude oil appreciably within 0.1-0.3% (v/v) dosage concentration. Also, CSO could exhibit as high as 77.7% paraffin inhibition efficiency (PIE) and JSO 73.5% at low concentration of doping.

Wax Formation Mechanisms, Wax Chemical Inhibitors and Factors Affecting Chemical Inhibition

“…The developed correlation is applied to predict the onset precipitation and deposition of wax in the pipeline. The standard technique used to investigate wax precipitation is by using a cold finger system, flow loop, or viscometer apparatus [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Nonetheless, the precise modelling of deposition along the pipeline walls is challenging.…”

Dataset on investigating the effect of sunflower based biodiesel on the rheology of Nigeria waxy crude oil

“…[1] . The problem generated by wax deposits is special concern in the production of crude oil at deep water where production fluid be cooled to nearly the temperature of the surrounding waters, hence decreasing the viscosity and retarding flow in pipe [2] , [3] , [4] . There is high demand of industry to achieve flow assurance throughout the production life of waxy crude oil.…”

Fatty Acid Content in Biomasses: State-of-the-Art and Novel Physical Property Estimation Methods

“…ey can be obtained from rather abundant organic compounds, including organic matter wastes [4,5] or nonedible oils [6,7]. Fatty acids are characterized by an outstanding range of applications within the energy domain, such as biofuels [8], and flow improvers for crude oils [9][10][11][12], or within other high end industries such as food supplements [13], cosmetics [14], medicines, and drugs [15,16].…”