Asphaltene and other heavy-organic particle deposition during transfer and production operations
- Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States)
The production and transportation of petroleum fluids could be severely affected by deposition of suspended particles (i.e. asphaltene, paraffin/wax, sand, and/or diamondoid) in the production wells and/or transfer pipelines. In many instances the amount of precipitation is rather large causing complete plugging of these conduits. Therefore, it is important to understand the behavior of suspended particles during flow conditions. In this paper we present an overview of the heavy organic deposition problem, its causes, effects and preventive techniques. We also present an analysis of the diffusional effects on the rate of solid particle deposition during turbulent flow conditions (crude oil production generally falls within this regime). We utilize the turbulent boundary layer theory and the concepts of mass transfer to explain the particle deposition rates on the walls of the flowing conduits. The developed model accounts for the Brownian and eddy diffusivities as well as for inertial effects and other forces acting acting upon the particles. The analysis presented in this paper shows that rates of particle deposition (asphaltene, paraffin/wax, sand, and/or diamondoid) on the walls of the flowing channel, due solely to diffusional effects, are negligible. It is also shown that deposition rates decrease with with increasing particle size. However, when the deposition process is momentum controlled (large particles) higher deposition rates are predicted. It is shown a decrease in deposition rates with increasing crude oil kinematic viscosity. An increase in deposition rates with increasing production rates is also observed.
- OSTI ID:
- 191914
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951002-; TRN: 96:000705-0033
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Annual meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Dallas, TX (United States), 22-25 Oct 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Production operations and engineering/general. 1995 SPE annual technical conference and exhibition; PB: 672 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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