The Effect of Magnetic Radiation on Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
The deposition of paraffin wax during the pipeline transportation impedes the flow of crude oil and eventually blocks the pipelines. The hot oiling method is extensively used to control the wax deposition in the oil industry. Consequently, a huge amount of energy is consumed to heat the crude oil by hot water or electrical power every year. In order to save the energy cost, the magnetic paraffin control technology is presented and evaluated with the hot oiling method, and accordingly the effect of the magnetic radiation on the oil transportation is detailed. The experiments carried out have demonstrated that the magnetic treatment can compensate for the resistance rising of the pipeline caused by the hot water reduction. Especially, the transportation of crude oil (at the surrounding temperature of -10°C~-30°C) without any heating has been observed in the Daqing oil field under the radiation of a magnetic field of 120 mT. In addition, the effect of the length of pipelines on the performance of magnetic treatment was also investigated.
Magnetic Field Conditioning: An Energy Efficient Method for Crude Oil Transportation
Paraffin wax deposition causes severe operational problems in oil fields. The major problem is the blockage of flow passage of the transportation lines and increase in the apparent viscosity of crude oil. This leads to decreased production rates, equipment breakdown and production shutdown. Tremendous energy and labour is utilized in pumping this waxy crude and maintenance of the flowlines which further affects the economics of the process. Hence timely control and removal of wax deposition is of prime importance. A number of treatment methods are available that have their own relative advantages and disadvantages. Chemical methods are mostly used. But they have their own limitations like being highly crude specific and environmentally hazardous. Mechanical methods like pigging although used widely suffer the drawback of requiring a lot of downtime, thereby affecting the production. This paper discusses briefly the various treatment methods and focuses on the method of magnetic field conditioning. It reviews the work carried out till date by various workers in the field of magnetic treatment of crude oil. Literature suggests that magnetic field reduces the apparent viscosity and cloud point of crude oil thereby assuring smooth flow. Hence it is less energy intensive, more economical and environment friendly. An attempt is made to understand the mechanism, challenges and future scope of this method.
Magnetic-field Induced Orientation of Paraffin
Paraffin aligns in the magnetic field (9T) during crystallization from melt, forming crystallites oriented with respect to the magnetic field. Discussion is made about the anisotropic structure responsible for the magnetic orientation.