• Title/Summary/Keyword: Wax deposition

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An experimental study on the effects of internal tubular coatings on mitigating wax deposition in offshore oil production

  • Jung, Sun-Young;Kang, Pan-Sang;Lim, Jong-Se
    • Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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    • v.38 no.10
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    • pp.1333-1339
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    • 2014
  • As the demand for petroleum resources increases, and oilfields on lands and in shallow-sea become exhausted, the areas for oil production are expanding to the deep sea and therefore technologies for flow assurance are coming into the highlight. In low temperature environment such as the deep sea, wax is accumulated and prevents stable oil production. Therefore, the development of flow assurance technologies is required. Wax is precipitated in crystalline form when the oil temperature decreases below the wax appearance temperature; it then accumulates on the inner walls of pipelines causing blockages. In particular, in subsea pipelines, which have a large surface contact area with the surrounding seawater, wax deposition problems are frequent. The internal tubular coating can effectively reduce wax deposition without pausing oil production when the coating is appropriately designed. This study carried out wax deposition tests on a number of internal tubular coatings under single flow conditions. The results were analyzed for the effects that the physical properties of the coatings had on wax deposition.

Analysis of Influential Factors on Wax Deposition for Flow Assurance in Subsea Oil Production System (해저 석유생산시스템에서 유동안정성 확보를 위한 왁스집적 영향요소 분석 연구)

  • Jung, Sun-Young;Kang, Pan-Sang;Lim, Jong-Se
    • Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.662-669
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    • 2015
  • There has been an increased interest in the mitigation of wax deposition because wax, which usually accumulates in subsea oil-production systems, interrupts stable oil production and significantly increases the cost. To guarantee a required oil flow by mitigating wax deposition, we need to obtain a reliable estimation of the wax deposition. In this research, we perform simulations to understand the major mechanisms that lead to wax deposition, namely molecular diffusion, shear stripping reduction, and aging. While the model variables (shear reduction multiplier, wax porosity, wax thermal conductivity, and molecular diffusion multiplier) can be measured experimentally, they have high uncertainty. We perform an analysis of these variables and the amount of water and gas in the multiphase flow to determine these effects on the behavior of wax deposition. Based on the results obtained during this study for a higher wax porosity and molecular diffusion multiplier, we were able to confirm the presence of thicker wax deposits. As the shear reduction multiplier decreased, the thickness of the wax deposits increased. As the amount of water increased, there was also an increase in the amount of wax deposits until 40% water cut and decreased. As the amount of gas increased, the amount of wax deposits increased because of the loss of the light hydrocarbon component in the liquid phase. The results of this study can be utilized to estimate the wax deposition behavior by comparing the experiment (or field) and simulation data.

Experiment Research for Wax Appearance Temperature Determination of Opaque Oil (석유생산 시 유동안정성 확보를 위한 불투명 오일의 왁스생성온도 결정 연구)

  • Kang, Pan-Sang;Hwang, Soon-Hye;Son, Bi-Ryong;Lim, Jong-Se
    • Journal of Energy Engineering
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2015
  • Wax deposition hinders oil flow assurance. Huge amount of money and time were required for mitigation of wax deposition in the oil field. For prediction and mitigation of wax deposition problem, Wax Appearance Temperature(WAT), which is the temperature at which the first wax crystals start to form, needs to be measured in advance. There is a standard method which is optical way to measure the WAT of transparent oil. However, standard method cannot be applied to opaque oil which is common produced oil in the field. In this study, WAT of three transparent oil samples were measured using heat flux variation analysis, viscosity variation analysis and density variation analysis, and compared with WAT measured by standard method. As a result, WAT measured by density variation analysis is the more reliable than heat flux variation analysis and viscosity variation analysis. WAT of two opaque oils were measured using density variation analysis.

Wax Appearance Temperature Measurement of Opaque Oil for Flow Assurance in Subsea Petroleum Production System (해저 석유 생산시스템 내 유동안정성 확보를 위한 불투명 오일의 왁스생성온도 측정법)

  • Lim, Jong-Se;Back, Seung-Young;Kang, Pan-Sang;Yul, Seung-Ryul;Kim, Hyo-Sang;Park, Ji-Hong
    • Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.185-194
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    • 2012
  • Deepwater oil is becoming more attractive because most onshore and shallow water oil is developing or developed. With the on-going trend to deepwater oil developments, flow assurance problems which prevent oil flow from reservoir to processing facilities are becoming an issue because deposited material can be occurred in case oil is exposed to very different environment from reservoir. Wax deposition which is one of flow assurance problems can be a major technical and economic issue because it is very sensitive to temperature. In order to predict and mitigate wax problems, the precise measurement of wax appearance temperature (WAT) which is the starting temperature of wax precipitation is very important. Various methods have been suggested for WAT measurement of opaque oil because there is no standard method for opaque oil. In this study, the WAT of opaque oil samples was measured using viscosity measurement method, differential scanning calorimetry, filter plugging method, and pressurized filter plugging method. Wax deposition test and high temperature gas chromatography analysis were applied to verify measured WAT. As a result of study, the WAT of opaque oils was successfully measured and verified. If WAT measurement methods of opaque oil related to oil characteristics is systematized using the results of this study, it can be a valuable tool for WAT measurement of opaque oil and flow assurance related to wax deposition.

A Study of Using FDM/ABS Parts as Wax-Pattern Substitutes in the Investment Casting Process (FDM 쾌속 조형기를 통해 만들어진 ABS 파트를 이용한 직접 정밀 주조에 대한 연구)

  • Choi, Doo-Sun;Shin, Bo-Sung;Kim, Joo-Han
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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    • v.16 no.10
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    • pp.59-67
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    • 1999
  • The lead time for new products is very limited in the current manufacturing processes, therefore the Rapid Prototyping process has been introduced and generally used in the industry. Fused Deposition Manufacturing (FDM) is one of the most common methods in this field. In the FDM process, the patterns are made of Wax of ABS and ABS shows better quality of the patterns. To date, the FDM/ABS patterns are used in investment casting for making silicon moulds to produce was patterns because it is very difficult to dewax FDM/ABS directly. The aim of this paper was to propose a feasibility of using FDM/ABS parts as wax-pattern substitutes in the investment casting process. The effects of casting conditions, such as pre-heat temperature and casting temperature, are provided. Comparisons with the conventional investment casting processes using the wax-patterns under the same prototype are made. Lead-time and saving cost are discussed in using FDM/ABS parts as was-pattern substitutes compared with the products from other rapid prototype systems.

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Anisotropic Superomniphobic Wettability on Hierarchical Structures of Micro Line Array Combined with Fluorinated Wax (C24F50)

  • Jeon, Deok-Jin
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2014.02a
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    • pp.209.2-209.2
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    • 2014
  • In recent years, researches about hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces have been executed however their other effects have not been researched enough. In this paper, the fabrication method of hierarchical structures of micro line array combined with fluorinated wax for anisotropic superomniphobic wettability is presented. We have achieved anisotropic and superomniphobic surface via simple two step methods, which are maskless photolithography and wax deposition. In order to prove how to provide those characteristics, SEM, contact angle measurement tool and X-ray diffraction are used. Fluorinated wax is crystalized self-assembly and it is subordinated on micro line array so that it is able to display anisotropic wettability. Understanding on anisotropic superomniphobic surface and simple fabrication method has been attracted to apply for lots of applications which range from self-cleaning surface, microfluidic chip, to directionally fluid control device, even in oily fluid.

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Measurement of Wax Appearance Temperature Using Image Processing (영상 처리기법을 이용한 오일의 왁스생성온도 측정)

  • Hwang, Soon-Hye;Kang, Pan-Sang;Lim, Jong-Se
    • Journal of Energy Engineering
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2016
  • When the oil is produced in the low temperature environment, wax can be accumulated in petroleum production system(pipeline, riser) and causes problems such as pipeline stucking, disturbance of the oil production. These problems can be lead to time-consuming and economic losses for flow assurance. For prediction and mitigation of wax deposition, it is necessary to measure the Wax Appearance Temperature(WAT) which is a temperature when the wax crystals start to be formed. WAT standard measurement method of transparent oil has to determine the cloud point of sample to the naked eye and cannot be applied to continuous change of the temperature. In this study, wax behavior of transparent oil samples are recorded depending on temperature using Visualized WAT Measurement System. Also, WATs of transparent oil samples are measured by image processing and compared with the result of the standard method.

Bioinspired superhydrophobic steel surfaces

  • Heo, Eun-Gyu;O, Gyu-Hwan;Lee, Gwang-Ryeol;Mun, Myeong-Un
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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    • 2011.02a
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    • pp.509-509
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    • 2011
  • Superhydrophobic surfaces on alloyed steels were fabricated with a non-conventional method of plasma etching and subsequent water immersion procedure. High aspect ratio nanopatterns of nanoflake or nano-needle were created on the steels with various Cr content in its composition. With CF4 plasma treatment in radio-frequence chemical vapor deposition (r.-f. CVD) method, steel surfaces were etched and fluorinated by CF4 plasma, which induced the nanopattern evolution through the water immersion process. It was found that fluorine ion played a role as a catalyst to form nanopatterns in water elucidated with XPS and TEM analysis. The hierarchical patterns in micro- and nano scale leads to superhydrophobic properties on the surfaces by deposition of a hydrophobic coating with a-C:H:Si:O film deposited with a gas precursor of hexamethlydisiloxane (HMDSO) with its lower surface energy of 24.2 mN/m, similar to that of curticular wax covering lotus surfaces. Since this method is based on plasma dry etching & coating, precise patterning of surface texturing would be potential on steel or metal surfaces. Patterned hydrophobic steel surfaces were demonstrated by mimicking the Robinia pseudoacacia or acacia leaf, on which water was collected from the humid air using a patterned hydrophobicity on the steels. It is expected that this facile, non-toxic and fast technique would accelerate the large-scale production of superhydrophobic engineering materials with industrial applications.

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A Study on Heat Loss from Offshore Pipelines Depending on the Thermal Conductivity of Backfills and Burial Depth

  • Park, Dong-Su;Seo, Young-Kyo
    • Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.1-6
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    • 2018
  • Subsea pipelines are designed to transport mixtures of oil, gas, and their associated impurities from the wellhead that can have temperatures as high as $100^{\circ}C$, while the external temperature can be as low as $5^{\circ}C$. Heat can be lost from the subsea pipeline containing high-temperature fluid to the surrounding environment. It is important that the pipeline is designed to ensure that the heat loss is small enough to maintain flow and avoid the unwanted deposition of hydrate and wax, which occurs at a critical temperature of approximately $40^{\circ}C$. Therefore, it is essential to know the heat loss of subsea pipelines under various circumstances. This paper presents a comparison between numerical analyses and existing theoretical formulas for different backfills and burial depth.

Leaf epidermal structure of the Allium L. and its taxonomic significance (부추속(Allium L.) 잎 표피의 구조와 이의 분류학적 중요성)

  • Choi, Hyeok-Jae;Jang, Chang-Gee;Ko, Sung-Chul;Oh, Byoung-Un
    • Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.97-118
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    • 2004
  • A comparative anatomical and ultrastructural study was undertaken to investigare on the leaf epidermis by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). On the basis of results from this study, it was grasped major characters of taxa and variation range of each character on the level of species, section and subgenus respectively. The shape of leaf epidermal cell was oblong to linear, which was varied by each taxon. Epidermal cell of taxa in sects. Microscordum, Anguinum, and Rhizirideum, which had wide leaf blade, oblong instead of linear shape in others examined taxa in this study. The leaf of taxa in sect. Anguinum was hypostomatic, while the rest of taxa had amphistomatic leaf. This was also one of characters which could discriminate taxa of sect. Anguinum from others. The guard cell in investigated taxa had not so much variation in the respect of its size. The number of stomata per unit area reduced by increasing size of epidermal cell, the fewest number of stomata per unit area was found in the taxa of sect. Anguinum. The type of stomatal apparatus of observed all taxa was anomocytic. It was found to know ultrastructural variation in the epidermal cell, like as patterns of sculpture on the cell wall, and features of deposition of wax by SEM. There were no depositions of wax in the taxa of sect. Microscordum and Anguinum, but fine thread-like structures which were parallel or cross to axis was found on the surface of epidermal cell respectively. The patterns of sculpture on the cell were prominent straight in sects. Recticulato-bulbosa and Rhizirideum, discontinuous line in the sect. Oreiprason. The epicuticular wax had been deposited on the surface of its epidermal cell in all taxa except sects. Microscordum and Anguinum.