(58a) Flow Assurance: Modeling Wax Deposition in Subsea Pipelines

As drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has moved further and further off shore, wax deposition in subsea oil pipelines has become a billion dollar problem. As the wax builds up in the pipelines it hinders (and in some cases, stops) oil production and transport The fundamentals of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics and kinetics have been used to accurately predict single phase wax deposition and buildup without the use of any empirical turning factors. Knowing the location and hardness of the deposit, we can design remediation methods such as pigging frequency or fused chemical reactions to remove the wax deposits in subsea pipelines.