A Summary of Experimental Research on Paraffin Deposition with Flow Loops

Wax/paraffin deposition in production wells and oil pipelines is a major challenge for oil production. Extensive research has been conducted to improve understanding of this process. This paper presents a review of experimental work carried out with flow loops. Previous research investigated paraffin deposition process under the influences of temperature, flow rate/velocity, shear stress, water fraction, gas phase, pipe material, asphaltene concentration, and chemical inhibitors. Test results reveal that temperature and shear stress have significant impacts on wax deposition. Limited research has been conducted on wax deposition under multiphase flow. Even though more than 20 years of efforts have been spent on wax deposition studies, unfortunately we have not fully understood this phenomenon.