Accurate measurement of wax thickness deposited on a cold pipe wall is of vital importance to the development of predictive models for paraffin deposition in flowlines and wellbores. Existing wax thickness measurement techniques, including pigging, spool piece, pressure drop, and heat transfer methods, are critically reviewed. An on-line wax thickness measurement technique, named the liquid displacement-level detection method (LD-LD), is presented. This new method is capable of giving both longitudinal and circumferential wax thickness distributions as well as the total wax deposit volume for single-phase and multiphase flow in pipes.

Keywords:
flow assurance, paraffin remediation, wax inhibition, scale remediation, oilfield chemistry, asphaltene remediation, remediation of hydrates, US government, asphaltene inhibition, Hydrate Remediation
Subjects:
Production Chemistry, Metallurgy and Biology, Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers, Flow Assurance, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Inhibition and remediation of hydrates, scale, paraffin / wax and asphaltene, Precipitates (paraffin, asphaltenes, etc.), Multiphase flow
Copyright 1997, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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