SYNTHESIS OF POLY(α-OLEFIN-CO- MALEIC ACID ALKYLAMIDE)S AND THEIR IMPACT ON COLD FLOW IMPROVEMENT FOR WAXY CRUDE OIL

摘要

The presence of paraffinic wax in crude oil is known to causensignificant flow assurance problems as wax can precipitate at lowntemperature and consequently reduce the flowing ability of crude oilnin pipeline [1-5]. This problem is more significant in deeper subseanenvironment. The heat loss from the fluid in the pipeline to thenenvironment can lead to a radical temperature gradient as thenenvironment temperature can be 4 °C or lower [6]. The mostneffective way of dealing with the problem of wax deposition in crudenoil pipelines would be to prevent it from occurring in the first placen[7]. Using chemical additives as pour point depressant (PPD) hasnbeen proved to be an effective way for preventing wax deposition onnpipeline walls. The main types of PPDs or flowing improvers includenethylene polymers [8], poly(ethylene-butene)(PEB) [9], comb-typenpolymers [10-11] and other branched polymers with long alkylngroups [12].