Method for wax removal and measurement of wax thickness
AssigneeStatoil ASA
InventorsRyan Hoffman, Lene Amundsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for removal of wax deposited on an inner wall in contact with a fluid stream. The method includes the steps of cooling the inner wall and the fluid stream to a temperature of or below the wax appearance temperature, enabling wax to dissolve and precipitate on the inner wall, and heating of the inner wall for a short period of time to release the deposited wax from the surface of the inner wall, mainly in the form of solid parts. The thickness of wax deposits in a pipe section can be determined by computing the temperatures obtained upstream and downstream in the said pipe section, before and after applying heat pulse.
Claims21
1-19. (canceled)
A method for removal of wax deposited on an inner wall in contact with a fluid stream wherein said stream contains dissolved wax, the method comprising:
- (a) cooling the inner wall and the fluid stream to a temperature of, or below, the wax appearance temperature of said wax, to allow for dissolved wax to precipitate on the inner wall, and
- (b) thereafter bringing the deposited wax into the fluid stream, mainly in the form of solid parts, wherein the inner wall is heated to a temperature where the deposited wax is released from the inner wall mainly in the form of solid parts and transported downstream by fluid stream, and wherein the particles have little or no tendency to deposit on the inner walls.
A method for measuring the thickness of wax deposits in a pipe or process equipment conducting a stream of hydrocarbons comprising the steps of:
- (a) performing a first temperature measurement upstream and downstream of a pipe section;
- (b) applying a short heat pulse to the pipe section which does not loosen the deposits;
- (c) performing a second temperature measurement upstream and downstream of the pipe section;
- (d) calculating the thickness of the deposits from the change in temperature difference between the first and second temperature measurements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.