The Study of Temperature Profile inside Wax Deposition Layer of Waxy Crude Oil in Pipeline

Taking the axial heat conduction of wax deposition layer into account, a two-dimensional heat transfer model of calculating the temperature profile inside wax deposition layer was deduced and established based on the energy balance equation, the finite difference method was used to solve this model, and the influence of axial heat conduction on the distribution law of temperature profile inside the wax deposition layer under different boundary conditions and thickness were discussed. The results showed that: Temperature profile inside wax deposition layer in middle region of testing pipe section was mainly influenced by axial heat conduction under boundary conditions of constant wall temperature while the region near the inlet was mainly influenced under boundary conditions of variable wall temperature. With the increasing thickness of wax deposition layer, the influence of axial heat conduction became more conspicuous. All in all, in laboratory flow loop experiment of wax deposition, although axial heat conduction had an influence on the temperature profile inside wax deposition layer under different conditions, the influence was small, thus could be ignored.