Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Useful And Essential Facts About Paraffin Removal Oil Wells

By Amy Wright


The world of today is powered by petroleum fuels. These fuels are mined from various places around the world. The Middle East is one of the regions that is well-known for its large deposits of oil resources. Several economies in this region rely on oil in large part. Other countries that have huge deposit of oil resources are the United States, Russia, and Africa. Here are facts regarding Paraffin Removal Oil Wells.

There many challenges involved in the process of removing oil from its deposits. Formation of organic deposits inside and around the wellbore is among one of the most occurring problems. The deposits can be grouped into two major groups. The two are asphaltenes and paraffin. These deposits occur in the tubing or pores of reservoir rocks.

Three major groups of compounds are contained in crude oil. These compounds are resins and asphaltenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and saturated hydrocarbons, which are also called paraffins. Paraffins and aromatic hydrocarbons make the highest composition in crude oil, while asphaltenes and resins make only a small percentage. Bitumens, tars, and other more degraded crudes on the other hand contain more asphaltenes and resins compared to paraffins and aromatic hydrocarbons.

Paraffins are high-molecular-weight alkanes that form in wellbores, feed line, and other spaces and components in boring arrangements. Usually, the thickness of the deposits increases over time and after growing to large sizes, they can cause a considerable reduction in the production of oil. After reaching this level, some remedial steps should be taken so that full production can be restored.

The hardness of deposits differ, while some are brittle others are very hard. As molecular weight of paraffins increases so does the deposit get firmer and bigger. Mostly the paraffins occur separately from asphaltenes but in some instances they appear together. These deposits occur due to loss of solubility of the involved crude oil. Factors like changes in temperature, pressure, and composition of the oils among others are responsible for causing the loss of solubility.

Removal of paraffins is done using various methods. Over time, new methods have been developed to make the removal of paraffins in oil wells easier and faster. As a result, there are several methods in existence today. These methods can be put into three major categories. The three categories of methods are use of chemical solvents, mechanical removal, and use of heat to melt and remove the wax.

Mechanical methods involve the use of knives and scrappers to remove the deposits of wax in wellbores. Mechanical methods vary in the level of efficiency depending on the factors surrounding the deposits. These methods are relatively inexpensive to use. They are used a lot by many companies on their oil fields.

The second most applied method after mechanical is the use of chemical solvents. Under this technique, crude oil is smeared on the walls of the wellbore in order to remove paraffins. In order for the crude oils to work effectively they are heated to about 300 degree Fahrenheit. Gravity is then used in injecting or feeding the hot oils into the wellbore. The hot solution dissolves all the wax before it is pumped back to the surface.




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