Prediction of Viscosity Variation for Waxy Crude Oils Beneficiated by Pour Point Depressants During Pipelining

Pour-point-depressant (PPD) beneficiation is an emerging technology for facilitating pipelining of waxy crude oils. However, it was found both in lab studies and field tests that the viscosities of PPD-beneficiated waxy crude oils may increase as a result of pump shear or pipe flow shear during pipelining, called the shear effect. Current method for understanding this viscosity variation is to measure the viscosities by experimental simulation, which is quite time- and effort-consuming for long-distance pipelines. A new method for predicting the viscosity variation during pipelining is presented in this article based on a mathematical model for predicting viscosity of PPD-beneficiated waxy crude oils at certain temperature after shear and a model for predicting non-Newtonian viscosity of waxy crude oils as a function of temperature and precipitated wax. As verification, viscosity variations of five PPD-beneficiated waxy crude oils during pipelining are predicted by using the presented method and compared with the measured data from experimental simulations. The predicted viscosities are in good agreement with the measured data, with an average absolute deviation of 14.1% for all 52 data points. Comparisons between the measured or predicted viscosities during pipelining and viscosities obtained from the fast cooling experiment of PPD effectiveness evaluation demonstrate that the evaluation of PPD effectiveness for practical application should take the shear effect into consideration. The presented method provides a new way to evaluate the PPD's effectiveness in pipelining application quickly and effectively.