Evaluation on the Effect of Inhibitor Ratio to the Wax Deposition in Malaysian Crude

It is important to understand the fundamental nature of petroleum wax formation since this problem is still a challenging issue in the crude oils industry. The application of a wax inhibitor was introduced in this study to reduce the wax. Poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) and cocoamide-diethanolmines (DEA) with different ratios were used to evaluate their performance as an inhibitor using cold finger equipment. A total of 10 ml inhibitor at different ratio of EVA and DEA was injected into crude oil sample at constant cold finger and water bath temperature of 10 and 50 °C, respectively. The Percent Inhibition Efficiency (PIE) was increased as the amount of EVA in DEA was increased. The use of pure EVA had successfully showed the highest PIE value which is 23.08 % compare to other ratios. The GC-FID analysis found that the C₂₈H₅₈ (n-octacosane) wax solid deposit was reduced almost 90 % if pure EVA was used. The addition of DEA in the EVA inhibitor does not give a significant effect to the prevention of wax solid formation. It is highly recommended to use pure EVA as a single wax inhibitor in controlling wax solid deposition.