Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Useful Information Regarding 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.

The oil extraction process comes with many challenges. The deposition of organic deposits around and inside the wellbore is among the most recurrent issues. These deposits can be grouped into two main categories, which are paraffin and asphaltenes. The deposits are formed in the tubing or in the pores of the reservoir.

Crude oil has three major groups of compounds. The three include saturated hydrocarbons also called paraffins, asphaltenes and resins, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Crude oil has aromatic hydrocarbons and paraffins in abundance with a small percentage of resins and asphaltenes. On the other hand, more degraded crudes like tars and bitumen have more resins and asphaltenes than aromatic hydrocarbons and paraffins.

Paraffins which are high-molecular-weight alkanes usually build up in spaces and components like wellbores and feed lines in boring setups. Normally, in the course of time, these deposits increase in thickness leading to significant drop in oil generation when they have grown to large sizes. When this stage has been reached, it is essential that some remedial steps must be taken to salvage the satiation and restore maximum production.

Usually, deposits range in toughness from very hard deposits to deposits that are brittle. These deposits normally get firmer and bigger as the molecular weight of the paraffin rises. In most instances, asphaltenes and paraffins occur separately although there are situations where they occur together. The loss of solubility of the crude oil is what causes the deposition. Several factors like change in temperature and pressure and changes in composition of the oils cause 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.

The use of scrappers and knives for removing the wax deposits in wellbores is what is entailed in mechanical techniques. The factors that surround the deposits determine how the mechanical techniques vary in their efficiency. Relatively, these techniques are cheap to use. Many companies use them a lot on their oil fields.

The use of solvents is also commonly employed. Here, crude oil is applied on the walls of the wellbore to remove deposits of paraffins. The crude oils used in this process are heated to a temperature of 300 degrees fareinheit. The hot oils is then injected or fed into the wellbore under gravity. The hot solvent dissolved the wax before being produced back to the surface.




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