IMAGE: A circulation bench that allows simulating conditions during the production of oil fluid from a reservoir in laboratory conditions view more 

Credit: @SamaraPolytech

Today, the oil industry is faced with the problem of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits on the inner surface of tubing pipes. Samara Polytech scientists have developed an experimental laboratory bench that allows simulating the conditions of the settling out of the deposits. The results of the latest research are published in the journal "Oil and Gas Business" (DOI: 10.17122/ngdelo-2021-2-97-103).

"The reason for the formation of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits in tubing pipes is the oil production from a well that has been in operation for a long time (that is, at a late stage of development, when it is necessary to extract hard-to-recover oil deposits)", Maxim Bogatov, a postgraduate student of the Department of Metallurgy, Powder Metallurgy, Nanomaterials explains.

Typically, in such wells, the average fluid content exceeds 90%. As a result, when the reservoir temperature decreases, high molecular weight paraffinic hydrocarbons contained in the reservoir begin to crystallize and deposit on the inner surface of the tubing pipes, making it difficult to extract oil.

One of the most common ways to prevent the settling out of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits is the use of anti-corrosion coatings. Therefore, during the tests, the Polytech employees installed samples (pipe simulators) in the bench with and without an internal polymer coating. As a result, it was proved that the amount of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits formation does not depend on the type of pipe coating.

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Samara Polytech as a flagship university offers a wide range of education and research programs and aims at development and transfer of high-quality and practically-oriented knowledge. The university has an established reputation in technical developments and focuses on quality education, scientific and pragmatic research, combining theory and practice in the leading regional businesses and enterprises. Education is conducted in 30 integrated groups of specialties and areas of training (about 200 degree programs including bachelor, master programs and 55 PhD programs) such as oil and gas, chemistry and petrochemistry, mechanics and energy, transportation, food production, defense, IT, mechanical and automotive engineering, engineering systems administration and automation, material science and metallurgy, biotechnology, industrial ecology, architecture, civil engineering and design, etc.

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