SPE Journal
Volume 15, Number 4, December 2010, pp. 963-968

SPE-124799-PA

Determining Wax Type: Paraffin or Naphthene?

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DOI  More information 10.2118/124799-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/124799-PA

Citation

  • Bacon, M.M., Romero-Zerón, L.B., and Chong, K.K. 2010. Determining Wax Type: Paraffin or Naphthene? SPE J.  15 (4): 963-968. SPE-124799-PA. doi: 10.2118/124799-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 6.2 Fluids Characterization
  • 6.4.6 Chemical Flooding Methods Methods (e.g., Polymer, Solvent, Nitrogen, Immiscible CO2, Surfactant, Vapex)
  • 6.8 Fundamental Research in Reservoir Description and Dynamics

Keywords

  • naphthene, cross-polarized microscopy CPM, paraffin, microcrystalline, macrocrystalline

Summary

Paraffin wax deposits are known to be a worldwide problem in the upstream petroleum industry. Considerable resources are expended on inhibiting or removing wax deposits every year. Paraffin wax is not the only type of crude-oil-based wax. Microcrystalline waxes, composed of naphthene and iso-paraffin molecules, also exist but are not well studied. The predominance of paraffin (also called macrocrystalline) wax and paraffin-wax-inhibition techniques will likely lead to paraffin-wax treatments being applied to naphthene-based reservoirs. It is unclear how well a paraffin-based treatment will apply to naphthene-based oil.

The current study investigates the use of cross-polarized microscopy (CPM) to determine if a crude oil contains macrocrystalline or microcrystalline waxes. The type of wax present in the crude oil can be determined using crystal morphology and size. This study demonstrates that paraffin-wax crystals are elongated structures with statistically larger sizes than the microcrystals. Microcrystalline waxes are shown to be statistically smaller and rounded structures.

© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 10 September 2009
  • Meeting paper published: 5 October 2009
  • Revised manuscript received: 4 March 2010
  • Manuscript approved: 9 March 2010
  • Published online: 4 August 2010
  • Version of record: 2 December 2010