3 Tips from Someone With Experience
These days, a lot of energy companies pump paraffin based crude oils from the well before they purify it. Paraffin and asphaltenes accumulate in the crude oil, which distracts the flow lines. Research has proven that every year, a lot of wells that produce crude oils face paraffin or asphaltenes buildup. A lot of countries that mine the crude oil have invested a lot of cash on trying to develop the best methods of preventing or removing paraffin buildup. Companies that deliver oil look for ways to remove paraffin because it lowers the quality of the other types of oils. Even though a lot of cash has been used to look for paraffin removal methods, research has proven that no universal solution has been found.
Uncertainty of the composition of the deposit and variances in molecules structure are some of the reasons why many companies look for ways to remove the paraffin from the paraffin based crude oil. Paraffin deposits would affect the flow of crude oil, especially if it pumped using the pipes. The physical characteristics of paraffin crude oil vary a lot, even if they have a uniform composition. You can remove paraffin from crude oil in many ways. Some of the paraffin removal methods you can consider are the mechanical, scraping, hot oiling, coiled tubing, and also thermal.
Mechanical methods are one of the oldest methods used to remove the paraffin deposits from the paraffin based crude oil. In this method, wireline cutting tools and flow line scrapers are used to remove the wax deposits. A lot of people use this method to remove paraffin deposits because it is a bit cheaper than thermal techniques. Scrapping offers a lot of benefits when used to remove the paraffin. One of the benefits is that some scraping systems will support paraffin cleaning. Because of that reason, the production levels will be kept high by the operators. Those who use this paraffin removal method are advised to schedule it at frequent intervals. If you do not do that, you will need more labor intensive methods. Even though many people use this method, sometimes it leads to blockage especially if it results in large chunks of scrapped paraffin settling in the surface equipment.
The other method that is used to remove paraffin from a paraffin based crude oil is the thermal technique. This method is regarded as the simplest and cost effective even though the operators can experience inadequate treatments if they do not recognize the requisite time and temperature requirements. Heat and water is another method that is used to remove paraffin even if the method is not effective. This method is considered impractical because some paraffin based crude oil passes in burred lines, which, on the other hand, make the temperatures of hot oil, hot water, or steam to vary. Because the melted waxes may flow with crude oil, you will need to clean the pipes to avoid blockage that might cost you a lot of cash.