Method for treating tubulars with a gelatin pig

Abstract

An ablating gelatin pig for use in tubulars which can easily negotiate the bends, etc in a tubular. Due to the properties of gelatin, the pig will ablate thereby depositing a protective layer onto the wall of the tubular. The pig can be molded outside the tubular or it can be formed in situ. The pig is formed by mixing common gelatin with a heated liquid and then allowing the mixture to cool to ambient temperature. Preferably, the liquid includes a treating solution (e.g. corrosion inhibitor, drag reducer, etc ) which is to be used to treat the pipeline. In some applications, a slug of the treating solution is also passed through the pipeline between two ablating gelatin pigs. For high temperatures applications, a hardener may be added to the pig to increase the melting temperature of the pig and/or a slug of the hardener can also be passed through the pipeline between two ablating gelatin pigs if necessary.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.