Wax Deposition Modeling In Oil/water Two-Phase Flows

Wax deposition is a crucial economic issue in subsea oil production. Deposition modeling using fundamentals of transport phenomena and numerical analysis not only establishes scientific insight into the deposition mechanisms, but also predicts deposit profiles for effective remediation such as pigging. However, most of the research on deposition modeling is still limited to the idealized single phase flow conditions. In this study, a CFD model is developed to study the wax depositions under oil/water two-phase stratified flow and dispersed flow. In stratified flow systems, the effect of water volume fraction on deposition is discussed. In dispersed water-in-oil flow systems, it is shown that the radial distribution of water plays an important role in wax deposition by affecting the mixture properties and the heat/mass transfer in the boundary layer.