Wax inhibitors for oil compositions and methods of using wax inhibitors to reduce wax deposition from oil

A method of reducing wax deposition from an oil, the method comprising adding to said oil an effective amount of a wax inhibitor that comprises at least one modified alpha-olefin maleic anhydride copolymer of the formula:

• wherein R1 is selected from hydrogen or hydrocarbyl groups containing 12-60 carbon atoms, wherein the hydrocarbyl groups include a combination of straight-chain and at least one of branched-chain, cyclic alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl and aryl groups, and an average carbon atom number of R1, if not hydrogen, in the copolymer is in a range from 20 to 32, R2 is selected from hydrocarbyl groups containing 6-12 carbon atoms, and n is a number of repeating units ranging from 1 to 100, and wherein R1, if not hydrogen, has a longer hydrocarbyl chain than R2.

An oil composition comprising an oil and an effective amount of a wax inhibitor, said wax inhibitor prepared by reacting an alpha-olefin containing from 8 to 14 carbon atoms with maleic anhydride in the presence of a free radical initiator to obtain a copolymer having a hydrocarbyl side chain containing 6 to 12 carbon atoms, followed by reacting said copolymer with an alcohol mixture with an average number of carbon atoms in a range from 20 to 32 to form a copolymer having an ester side chain, wherein the ester side chain is longer than the hydrocarbyl side chain, and wherein the alcohol mixture comprises at least one C12-C60 alcohol blend and at least one bulky alcohol selected from the group consisting of guerbet alcohols, benzyl alcohols, oleyl alcohols, tertiary alcohols and trimethylsilanol.

A method of reducing wax deposition from an oil, the method comprising adding to said oil an effective amount of a wax inhibitor, said wax inhibitor prepared by reacting an alpha-olefin containing from 8 to 14 carbon atoms with maleic anhydride in the presence of a free radical initiator to obtain a copolymer having a hydrocarbyl side chain containing 6 to 12 carbon atoms, followed by reacting said copolymer with an alcohol mixture with an average number of carbon atoms in a range from 20 to 32 to form a copolymer having an ester side chain, wherein the ester side chain is longer than the hydrocarbyl side chain, and wherein the alcohol mixture comprises at least one C12-C60 alcohol blend and at least one bulky alcohol selected from the group consisting of guerbet alcohols, benzyl alcohols, oleyl alcohols, tertiary alcohols and trimethylsilanol.