Synthesis of Some Terpolymer Nanocomposites and Their Evaluation as Additives for Some Petroleum Products

Abstract

Lubricating oils and diesel fuel derived from petroleum contain a significant percentage of paraffinic waxes. As the bulk oil temperature drops under its wax appearance temperature (WAT), the wax is precipitated then converted to wax gel with high yield strength that encircles the internal area of the production pipelines. The continuous precipitation of wax at the internal surface of these pipelines results in three stages of phase transformation. At first, the particles of wax aggregate in the oil clusters and by changing in the temperature and the pressure these oil clusters became sufficiently high to precipitate. At the second stage, the molecules of wax are shaped as a net or cage that mainly cause the oil to loss its fluidity. At the end, with the continuous deposition of these cage leads to block the production pipelines that have to be brought to a halt.