Chapter

Challenges during Operation

and Shutdown of Waxy Crude
Pipelines
Mysara Eissa Mohyaldinn, Hazlina Husin, Nurul Hasan,
Mohamed M.B. Elmubarak, Ahmed M.E. Genefid
and Mahmood E.A. Dheeb

Abstract

Transportation of waxy crude oil faces great challenges due to shear and
temperature dependency. At high temperatures, waxy crude exhibits low viscous
Newtonian behavior where the resistance to flow due to friction is low, and hence
low pumping pressure is required to transport it. At low temperatures, however,
the crude exhibits shear thinning non-Newtonian behavior where its apparent
viscosity becomes shear-dependent. In such cases, the operated pipeline needs to
maintain a high pressure to guarantee a continuous flow. Moreover, due to heat
transfer between the internal pipeline and surroundings, oil temperature declines
along the pipeline. It follows that the crude viscosity and, hence, frictional resis-
tance increase. If the flow is interrupted for any reason, i.e., emergency or planned
shutdown, then the restartability of the pipeline becomes a challenge because of
the nonexistence of heating generated from friction. In this chapter, the challenges
normally facing transportation of waxy crude oil will be discussed. The chapter
will introduce the rheological properties of waxy crude oil and explain and describe
how these properties can affect the pressure losses inside the pipeline during its
operation and shutdown. The measures that need to be considered when designing
a waxy crude pipeline will be discussed.

Keywords: waxy crude, rheology, pipeline, oil transportation

1. Introduction

Flow assurance is one of the major technical challenges in oil and gas production
operations. The formation of gas hydrate, wax, halite, asphaltenes, mineral scales,
and naphthenic acids can all result in serious operational and economic concerns.
The industry needs novel and innovative techniques to reduce the costs associated
with flow assurance and to improve the overall operation performance. Nowadays,
with the decrease in conventional oil reserves, oil companies are improving uncon-
ventional oil fields where the reserved hydrocarbons are heavy and possess complex
properties. The most important consequence of these ultraheavy hydrocarbons is
that they hinder the flow through different production and transportation sys-
tems. In particular, for oil transportation through pipelines, we have to consider

1
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

the complexity of the fluid rheology as an important factor that needs to be fully
controlled in order to generate a smooth transportation.
The crude oil that possesses a high amount of wax, known as waxy crude oil,
can cause many operational obstacles during production, storage, and transporta-
tion. It is considered that the most important obstacle is the crystallization and
sedimentation of wax in the crude oil in the pipes during transportation. While
waxy crude oil is flowing through the pipeline, and due to continuous cooling of
the oil caused by heat transfer toward surroundings, crystals of wax form and grow
in size to form partial to total blockage of the pipe cross-sectional area. This process
continues with shutdown time, and farther the distance from the pipeline inlet, the
faster is the wax deposition on the pipe internal wall and the higher tendency of
the wax crystals to enlarge in size. This results in a continuous decrease in the pipe
internal diameter, and, as the frictional loss is inversely proportional to the pipe
diameter, higher frictional pressure loss will occur. Because of that, the pumping
pressure needs to be increased in order to preserve the desired flow rate. However,
knowing the mobility of the flow is an important issue for effective and frugal
process of a pipeline framework. The main concern of waxy crude oil is the stream
restart after delay in planned or emergency shutting down of the flow process for
any reason.
Wax precipitation and deposition also contribute significantly in changing the
original rheology of the oil. While wax crystals are precipitated and deposited,
viscosity of the crude oil rises to convert it to a high viscous fluid that adhered to the
internal pipe wall to decrease the effective cross-sectional area of the pipe. A solu-
tion to this issue can be achieved by applying various methods to lower the viscosity
and pour point. The most common methods extensively implemented are heating
of the transported crude, dilution with lighter fluid, and adding chemical addi-
tives, known as flow improvers/modifiers, to the flow stream. Each one of the three
methods has its own advantages and disadvantages; however, generally speaking,
chemical additives stay the most commonly recognized solution as compared to the
other choices.
Usually the waxy crude oil is pumped at temperatures above its wax appearing
temperature (WAT) in order to prevent forming of wax on the wall of the pipes.
The pressure pumped should be high enough to hold the stability of the fluid. When
temperature gets lower due to heat transfer, the crude becomes more viscous. And
if the temperature lowers enough to initiate wax deposition, then there will be a
double effect that results in higher frictional pressure, viz., higher viscosity and
smaller pipe diameter.

1.1 Definition of waxy crude oil

Waxy crude oil can be defined as the crude oil that contains high amount of
long-chain paraffin wax (alkanes) components, making the crude to possess a high
pour point and, may be, a low API gravity. A waxy crude oil is distinguished by the
fact that it exhibits non-Newtonian rheological behavior at low range of tempera-
ture (i.e., about 20 F above the pour point). For such non-Newtonian behaved crude
oils, the effective viscosity is not only temperature dependent but also a function of
the effective rate of shear in the pipeline. At reservoir conditions, due to high pres-
sure and temperature, wax molecules are normally dissolved in the crude oil to form
a single continuous hydrocarbon liquid phase. While flowing through pipelines,
especially in sub-sea environments, due to cooling down, wax crystals may start to
precipitate from this continuous phase, and eventually the fluid may lose its liquid-
ity behavior. This change of flow behavior normally starts to occur when the crude
temperature becomes lower than its cloud point or WAT [1].

2
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

1.2 Wax chemical compound formation and properties

The wax existing in crude oil mostly contains paraffin hydrocarbon (C18-C36)
recognized as paraffin wax and naphthenic hydrocarbon (C30-C60). The hydro-
carbon element of wax is able to present in several phases, i.e., gas, liquid, and
particles (solids), relying on the flow conditions, i.e., pressure and temperature.
When the temperature of wax decreases, the agglomerates and the wax crystals
from paraffin wax are recognized as microcrystalline or naphthenic hydrocarbon
[2]. Chemical flow modifiers can be used to enhance the crude flowability at flow
conditions where crystallization or gelling is expected. These flow modifiers can
delay the crude crystallization by reducing its pour point and viscosity. According
to [3], the temperature of the waxy crude oil at the time of injecting the chemical
additives is an important factor to determine their efficiency. If the temperature
is very low, surely some amount of wax will be formed, and this accumulated wax
will affect the rendering of chemicals. It has been observed that a high molecular
weight wax chemical flow modifier has better performance for lowering waxy
crude pour point. The crystal growth development rate of the lower-molecular-
weight wax inhibitor is much slower than that of the higher molecular weight wax
inhibitor.

1.3 Wax appearance temperature or cloud point

Wax appearance temperature is the temperature below which wax starts to

appear in a waxy crude liquid. When a heated waxy crude is cooled down to a
temperature lower than WAT, the wax molecules form clusters of aligned chains.
Once these nuclei reach a critical size, they become stable, and further attach-
ment of molecules leads to growth of the crystal. Formation of these nuclei causes
the fluid to take on a cloudy appearance, hence the name cloud point. This also is
referred to as the wax crystallization temperature or WAT. If the WAT of a produced
or transported waxy crude oil is found significantly higher than the temperatures
expected to be encountered during production or transportation, then wax deposi-
tion problems should be expected, and precaution measures are to be taken to avoid
the problem and lessen the consequences arisen from.

1.4 Factors controlling wax deposition

Wax deposition along the pipeline is affected by several factors that include
temperature, pressure, wax molecular weight, and the other crude oil components.
For a proper design, operation, and optimization of a waxy crude production and
transportation system, the effect of each of these factors is to be investigated care-
fully following documented experimental procedures and standards.
Wax deposition onto the production system generally requires a nucleating
agent, such as asphaltenes and inorganic solids. The wax deposits vary in consis-
tency from a soft mush to a hard brittle material. Paraffin deposits will be harder
if longer-chain n-paraffin is present. Paraffin deposits can also contain other
materials such as asphaltenes, resins, gums, fine sand, silt, clays, salt, and water.
High-molecular-weight waxes can deposit even in the higher-temperature sec-
tions of a well, while lower-molecular-weight fractions tend to deposit in lower-
temperature regions. Prior to solidification, the solid wax crystals in the liquid oil
change the flow properties from a Newtonian low viscosity fluid to a high viscous
non-Newtonian shear-dependent fluid. With further temperature reduction, the
oil may eventually turn into a very-complex-flow behavior gel with yield stress (i.e.,
becomes yield-pseudoplastic or yield-plastic non-Newtonian fluid). Regardless

3
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

of the rheological behavior the oil is exhibiting, oil viscosity is always inversely
proportional to the oil temperature. As the temperature of oil increases, the oil
viscosity decreases and vice versa.
The wax solubility is also directly proportional to process temperature.
According to Sadeghazad and Christiansen [4], when water is present in the crude,
wax deposition tends to reduce. This is because the water decreases the oil’s temper-
ature drop keeping the solution above the pour point temperature. They stated that
water is able to maintain the oil temperature because oil has only half the specific
heat as compared to that of water.
The second factor that affects the wax deposition is the pressure. The wax
present in oil has a positive divergence, i.e., the solubility of the wax present in
the solution decreases with the increase in applied pressure. This is because of the
intermolecular forces between molecules [4].
The third factor controlling wax deposition is the wax molecular weight. The
higher the molecular weight of the wax, the lesser its solubility because of its melt-
ing point increasing with the increase in the molecular weight [4, 5]. Al-Shafey and
his co-workers stated that the solution composition greatly affects the wax deposi-
tion as well [6]. A set of experiments conducted by Sadeghazad and Christiansen
reveals that the cloud point decreases for a wax solution with a lighter composition,
i.e., it would take longer time for the wax to deposit [4].

1.5 Wax deposition mechanism

The problem of paraffin wax may be described as a situation in which a predom-

inantly organic deposit hampers the production of crude oil. The loss of the crude
production from a well depends on the severity and location of the deposition. In
a pioneering work, Burger and others [7] investigated four wax deposition mecha-
nisms, namely, molecular diffusion of wax molecules, shear dispersion of wax
crystallites, Brownian diffusion of wax crystallites, and gravity settling. Gravity set-
tling of paraffin crystals in flow line conditions is negligible, because it’s dominated
by shear dispersion. These four wax deposition mechanisms are discussed in the
following subsections:

1.5.1 Molecular diffusion

Molecular diffusion is the deposition mechanism prevalent in well tubing.

To avoid the deposition in flowing well, the flowing oil temperature needs to
be maintained above the cloud point throughout the flow journey until the oil
reaches the wellhead [8, 9]. Deposition is enhanced as a result of radial heat
transfer from the tubing core toward the surroundings. Due to wax deposition,
a concentration gradient is formed in the oil as a result of temperature gradient
profile, due to increasing solubility of waxes with increasing temperature. The
concentration difference causes waxes in the solution to diffuse from the warmer
oil, which has a greater concentration of dissolved waxes, to the colder oil,
which has a lower concentration, resulting in molecular diffusion of the paraffin
crystals toward the surface wall. The wax concentration gradient is triggered as
the differential temperature at a cross section causes the particles near to the cold
walls to start the deposition from the oil solution and develop an initial layer of
deposit [10]. As the layer is deposited, a concentration gradient occurs between
the bulk fluid and the wall causing more wax to be trapped and oil flowing
through the wax as a porous media away from the wall, thus thickening the wax
concentration. This mechanism is the common mechanism observed for wax
deposition.

4
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

1.5.2 Shear dispersion

At low temperatures, shear dispersion is believed to be the most occurring

mechanism. It deals most with particles that are settling on the surface of a cold
pipe due to the grooved or rough surface as well as the intermolecular forces [11].
Yet it was concluded that the shear dispersion is not significant based on field
operating experience as well as experimental investigations.
When wax particles are moving along while transporting oil through a pipeline
on an average speed, shear dispersion occurs as a shearing effect near the wall. The
speed of the flowing fluid is less near the wall due to the shearing and friction caus-
ing a shear dispersion. Thus the crystalized precipitates move toward the wall due
to its higher weight and away from the turbulent flow of the crude. Once reaching
the wall, such precipitates form an initial layer of deposition or get trapped in the
matrix made by the molecular diffusion caused earlier [12]. Shear dispersion is
most effective when the temperature of the turbulent flow is below the WAT, thus
causing high wax precipitation. A shear dispersion coefficient expressed by Burger
and his co-workers [7] is:
​a​​  2​  γ ​C​  ∗ ​​ 
​​D​ s​​ = _
​   ​​ w 
  (1)
10

where ​​Ds​  ​​​ is the shear dispersion coefficient (m2/s); a is the particle diameter, m;
​​Cw​  ​​​ is the wax volume fraction concentration excluding the wall, fraction; and ɤ is the
oil shear rate on the wall, s−1.

1.5.3 Brownian diffusion

When tiny solid crystals are suspended within the oil, they collide frequently
with thermally vibrant molecules. Due to such collision, a Brownian movement is
initiated. At a concentration differential of these particles, the motion will cause
diffusion. Coefficient of the Brownian diffusion is expressed as:

​  RT   ​​  
​​D​ b​​ = _ (2)
6𝜋𝜇aN

where R is the gas constant (J/mol.K); Ta is the absolute temperature (K); U is

the viscosity (Pa.s); a is the particle diameter (μm); and N is the Avogadro’s number
(mol).
Yet as referred by Burger et al. [7], the Brownian diffusion can be ignored.

1.5.4 Gravity settling

As the waxy crystals are denser than the oil particles, they tend to settle down
and deposit. However, according to some results, it is believed that the gravitational
deposition is insignificant toward the wax deposition. The turbulent flow or the shear
dispersion would disperse the settling particles thus eliminating the gravity settling.

1.6 Waxy crude rheology

The most commonly used parameter to describe fluids’ rheology is the vis-
cosity, defined as the amount of resistance exhibited by the fluid to start the
deformation process once shear stress is applied. As the waxes are precipitating,
the fluid changes into a non-Newtonian fluid. This generally occurs when the
process temperature decreases below the WAT [13]. Moreover, the waxy crude oils
possess high yield stresses when the temperature further declines to values below

5
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

the pour-point temperature. When the temperature is lower than the pour-point
temperature, the oil loses its total mobility and turns into a gel-like structure
that would require critical value of stress to flow, known as yield stress value of
the gel. At low temperatures (below WAT), waxy crude oils generally exhibit
non-Newtonian flow behavior (namely, pseudoplastic fluids). The main feature
of the pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid is the dependency of viscosity on
shear rate (while it is constant for Newtonian fluids). Figure 1 shows typical flow
curves of fluids exhibiting different types of rheological behavior as proposed by
Wardhaugh and others [3]. The upper curve (a) shows the variation of applied
shear stress and shear rate as measured by a viscometer. The lower curve (b)
shows the variation of fluid viscosity with shear rate. It is clear that the viscosity
of Newtonian fluid is independent of shear rate, while the viscosity of non-
Newtonian fluids decreases with increasing shear rate. Viscosity is the amount of
resistance exhibited by the fluid to start the deformation process once shear stress
is applied. Different correlations are used to derive viscosity as per the case. The
value of viscosity of crude oil depends on many factors including the composition
of oil, temperature, amount of gas dissolved, and pressure or stress. The viscosity
can be calculated as the ratio of shear stress (Pa) to shear rate (s−1); hence, the SI
unit of viscosity is Pa·s.

Figure 1.
Typical flow curves of fluids exhibiting different types of rheological behaviors [3].

6
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

As the fluid flows through a pipeline, it starts a deformation due to the slip-
page action occurring. Shear stress is a force that is acting parallel to the flow
propagation of the fluid. The main cause of the shear stress is the friction exerted
between the particles, which is proportionally related to the viscosity of the fluid.
Mathematically, the shear stress is the force applied on a surface divided by the
​​  F ​​, where τ​ ​is the shear stress in N/m2 (or Pascal), F is the applied
​ ​_
surface area, i.e., τ​ ​ =
A
force in N, and A is the cross-sectional area of the fluid parallel to the applied force
2
in m .
The shear rate is the rate at which the deformation caused by the shear stress is
taking place. In Newtonian fluids, the shear rate increases as the flow rate increases.
As in the case of flow through pipelines, the shear rate is the gradient of change in
velocity across the radius of the pipe assuming that the top and bottom flows are
not in similar velocities. Assuming two parallel plates with one moving while the
other is stationary, the shear rate can be defined as _ ​​ v1 − v2
    ​​ where ​v​1 is the velocity
h
at the top plane, v​ ​2 is the velocity at the bottom plane, and h ​ ​is the gap between
the plates. This radial velocity and shear distribution are similar to what happens
during oil flow through pipelines. While flow velocity is constant along the pipeline
(since the pipe diameter is constant), there is a radial velocity variation along the
cross-sectional area due to the effect of shear. At the pipe wall, where the shear
stress is maximum, velocity is zero, whereas the maximum velocity occurs at the
center of the pipe. Figure 2 shows an example of the radial velocity distribution at
three values of flow rates [3], where A is the highest flow rate and C is the lowest
flow rate as indicated by radial velocity distribution showing a turbulent flow and
laminar flow, respectively.

1.7 Transportation of waxy crude through pipelines

Significant percentage of pipelines worldwide transport waxy crude oils

with different amounts of wax contents and, hence, wide range of rheology
complexity. In China, for instance, more than 80% of the produced oils are
classified as waxy crude [14] with total annual production of over 100 million
tons and total annual storage of more than 70 million tons [15]. Worldwide, half
of the recoverable oil reserve is classified as heavy crude [16] with the waxy
crude contributing about 20% to the total hydrocarbons reserve [17]. There
was a noticeable increase in the production of waxy crude recently. The daily
total production rate worldwide has increased from 1 million BOPD in 1960 to
almost 24 folds (contributing to one third of the total world oil production) in
2009 [1].

Figure 2.
Radial velocity distribution in the pipeline at three values of flow rate (VA > VB > VC) [3].

7
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

Since pipelines are the main transportation methods of waxy crude oils, proper
precautions and measures should be adopted to ensure a safe and smooth flow at
various operating conditions. For long-distance pipelines, in particular, the tem-
perature variation along the pipeline causes axial change of the rheological behavior
which results in complexity of prediction of pressure losses at different segments
along the pipeline.
Two cases need to be considered of a waxy crude pipeline, operating conditions
and shutdown conditions.

2. Waxy crude pipeline operations

During operation, the flow of the transported waxy crude tends to facilitate the
pipeline operation due to continuous shear of the fluid, from one hand, and the
heat generation due to friction, from the other hand. The former causes reduction
of the crude viscosity, which results in the decreasing of the generated frictional
pressure losses, and hence, less pumping pressure is required. The latter adds a
significant heating to the transported fluid, which can compensate part of the
heat losses resulting from the heat transfer due to temperature difference between

Figure 3.
Temperature distributions along Higleig-Portsudan pipeline (inlet temperature 60°C and flow rate 0.33 m3/s) [18].

Figure 4.
Variation of temperature and viscosity along pipelines [19].

8
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

the fluid and surroundings. As a result, the temperature along the pipeline can be
maintained to be always above the WAT. Figure 3 is an example of temperature
distribution along the Sudanese Higleig-Portsudan pipeline assuming two values
of soil temperature [18]. The figure indicates that the shear action due to flow can
maintain the temperature and delay the distance at which the temperature falls
down to surrounding (soil) temperature. This distance is directly proportional to
the fluid flow rate.
Figure 4 shows a typical variation of temperature and viscosity along a waxy
crude pipeline [19]. As we go far from the inlet, temperature declines due to
heat transfer between the fluid and the pipeline surroundings. The temperature

Figure 5.
Fula pipeline profile and pressure transverse between initial and terminal pump stations [20].

Figure 6.
Fula pipeline profile and pressure transverse between pump stations (3 pump stations) [20].

9
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

reduction leads to increase in viscosity, which eventually results in increase in

frictional pressure loss per unit of length. The trend of the variation of pressure loss
per kilometer length follows the same trend of viscosity variation.
To maintain a smooth operation of the pipeline, the total pressure losses due to
elevation difference and friction (which is highly affected by the crude rheology)
needs to be balanced by operating one or more pump stations. To facilitate the crude
pumping, the crude rheology can be enhanced by heating or injection of chemical
flow modifiers. Figures 5 and 6 show the pressure traverse between pump stations
of another Sudanese pipeline (Fula pipeline) assuming one and three pump sta-
tions, respectively [20]. The figures indicate that the inlet pumping pressure gradu-
ally declines along the pipeline to reach the next pump station at a specific terminal
pressure, which may serve as a suction pressure to the successive pump station.
This pressure profile is affected by flow rheology and wax precipitation inside the
pipeline both of which are highly temperature dependent.

3. Waxy crude pipeline shutdown and restarting

Unlike operating pipelines, when a pipeline undergoes a planned or emergency

shutdown, it loses the positive effects of shearing and heat generation due to
continuous flow. The temperature declines steadily from the moment of shutdown
until the time at which the temperature at all points along the pipeline reaches the
surrounding temperature, which may or may not be above the WAT. Accordingly,
the crude oil inside the pipeline exhibits a specific rheological behavior throughout
the pipeline length. If the surrounding temperature is significantly higher than the
WAT, the crude oil will exhibit a Newtonian flow behavior, where it can easily be
restarted after the shutdown period. However, if the surrounding temperature is
less than the WAT, then the fluid will exhibit a non-Newtonian behavior, and high
restarting pressure is needed. Figure 7 shows the temperature distribution along
Higleig-Portsudan pipeline at the moment of shutdown and after every subsequent
12 h following the shutdown. The figure indicates that the temperature throughout

Figure 7.
Transient temperature distribution along the pipeline every 12 h after shutdown (inlet temperature 60°C, soil
temperature 42°C, flow rate 0.33 m3/s) [18].

10
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

the pipeline distance reaches the surrounding temperature after 2 days from the
shutdown moment.
The most worse shutdown scenario is where the crude temperature drops below
pour point and results in the gelling of the crude inside the pipeline. In such com-
plex scenario, the restartability of the pipeline becomes a challenge, and the opera-
tor may become unable to restart it. It is, therefore, essential to avoid these complex
scenarios by different measures such as heating, chemical additives, dilution of the
crude with lighter fluids, and shortening the shutdown periods to ensure that the
temperature is always at a value permitting a smooth restarting of the pipeline.

4. Conclusions

Transportation of waxy crude pipeline through pipelines can cause numerous

problems that may impose safety, economical, and technical impacts on the pipeline
operation. The severity of waxy crude-related problems is highly affected by the
complexity of its rheological properties which in turn depends on the operating
conditions (mainly temperature). During waxy crude pipeline operation, tem-
perature declines along the axial length due to heat transfer caused by temperature
difference between the transported crude and the surroundings. This temperature
decline is concurrently encountered by a raise in temperature caused by heat
generation due to friction which is proportionally related to the velocity gradients.
This temperature variation along the pipeline causes axial variation in the crude
rheological properties which results in variation in frictional pressure losses.
During planned and emergency shutdown of waxy crude pipelines, the prob-
lems will get worse due the absence of heat generation. The temperature declines
steadily from the moment of shutdown until the time at which the temperature at
all points along the pipeline reaches the surrounding temperature, which may or
may not be above the WAT. Accordingly, the crude oil inside the pipeline exhibits
a specific rheological behavior throughout the pipeline length. The problem may
get worse when the surrounding temperature is below the WAT or even below pour
point. In such case, the pipeline may need to be assisted by putting on some cost-
effective measures to facilitate restarting up of the flow.

Author details

Mysara Eissa Mohyaldinn1*, Hazlina Husin1, Nurul Hasan2, Mohamed

M.B. Elmubarak1, Ahmed M.E. Genefid1 and Mahmood E.A. Dheeb1

1 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP),

Perak, Malaysia

2 Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Brunei

*Address all correspondence to: mysara.eissa@utp.edu.my

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. Distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution - NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction for
non-commercial purposes, provided the original is properly cited.

11
Processing of Heavy Crude Oils - Challenges and Opportunities

References

[1] Chala GT, Sulaiman SA, [9] Leiroz AT, Azevedo LFA. Studies

Japper-Jaafar A. Flow start-up and on the mechanisms of wax deposition
transportation of waxy crude oil in pipelines. In: Offshore Technology
in pipelines-a review. Journal of Conference. Houston, Texas: Society of
Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. Petroleum Engineers (SPE); 2005
2018;251:69-87
[10] Zhang X, Queimada A,
[2] Daungkaew S et al. Is there a better Szczepanski R, Moorwood T. Modelling
way to determine the viscosity in waxy the shearing effect of flowing fluid
crudes? In: SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas and wax ageing on wax deposition
Conference and Exhibition. Australia: in pipelines. Asia, Kuala Lumpur,
Perth; 2012 Malaysia: Offshore Technology
Conference; 25-28 March 2014
[3] Wardhaugh LT, Boger DV,
Tonner SP. Rheology of waxy crude oils. [11] Rosvold K. Wax Deposition Models.
International Meeting on Petroleum Department of Petroleum Engineering
Engineering. Tianjin, China: Society of and Applied Geophysics. M.Sc. Thesis.
Petroleum Engineers. 1-4 November Trondheim: Norwegian University;
1988 2008

[4] Sadeghazad A, Christiansen RL. [12] Bern PA, Withers VR, Cairns RJR.
The Effect of Cloud Point Temperature Wax deposition in crude oil pipelines.
on Wax Deposition in the 8 Abu Dhabi In: European Offshore Petroleum
Internationat Petroleum Exhibition Conference and Exhibition. London,
and Conference. Abu Dhabi: U.A.E; England: Society of Petroleum
1998 Engineers (SPE); 1980

[5] Popoola CA et al. Triethanolamine [13] Venkatesan R, Creek JL. Wax

(TEA) as flow improver for heavy crude deposition and rheology: Progress and
oils. IOSR Journal of Applied Chemistry. problems from an operator. Houston
2015;8:34-38 Texas: Offshore Technology Conference;
3-6 May 2010
[6] Al-Shafey H et al. Studies on the
influence of long chain acrylic esters [14] Cheng Q et al. The study on
co-polymers grafted with vinyl acetate temperature field variation and phase
as flow improver additives of crude oils. transition law after shutdown of buried
Advances in Applied Science Research. waxy crude oil pipeline. Case Studies in
2011, 2011;2(5):476-489 Thermal Engineering. 2017;10:443-454

[7] Burger ED, Perkins TK, [15] Zhao J et al. Effect of physical
Striegler JH. Studies of wax deposition properties on the heat transfer
in the trans Alaska pipeline. characteristics of waxycrude oil during
Journal of Petroleum Technology. its static cooling process. International
1981;33:1075-1086 Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.
2019;137:242-262
[8] Bern PA, Withers WVR, Cairns RJR.
Wax deposition in crude oil pipelines. [16] Ghannam MT et al. Rheological
In: European Offshore Technology properties of heavy & light crude oil
Conference and Exhibition. London, mixtures for improving flowability.
United Kingdom: Society of Petroleum Journal of Petroleum Science and
Engineers (SPE); 1980 Engineering. 2012;81:122-128

12
Challenges during Operation and Shutdown of Waxy Crude Pipelines
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89489

[17] Kumar L, Paso K, Sjöblom J.

Numerical study of flow restart in the
pipeline filled with weakly compressible
waxy crude oil in non-isothermal
condition. Journal of Non-Newtonian
Fluid Mechanics. 2015;223:9-19

[18] Mohyaldinn ME. Hydraulic

behaviour of Higleig-Portsudan pipeline
at operation and shutdown conditions.
Journal of Engineering Science and
Technology. 2014;9(4):463-476

[19] Mohyaldinn ME. A predictive tool

for thermal/hydraulic calculations of
Fula pipeline. Journal of Petroleum
and Gas Exploration Research.
2012;2(2):33-43

[20] Mohyaldinn ME. Analysis of

pressure transverse between pump
stations of fula pipeline under different
operation scenarios. International
Journal of Scientific & Technology
Research. 2014;3(3):451-456

13