One of the main phenomena causing problems in the oil industry is the precipitation of waxes, which can crystallize and form deposits, clogging lines and reducing flows. Many studies have been conducted seeking to overcome this problem, mainly through application of chemical to increase flow. Some studies have shown that the asphaltenes present in crude oil can also be involved in the process of wax deposition. In this study, model systems were investigated to determine the influence of a natural additive, a chemical additive and their combined use on the fluidity of the samples. The natural additive, consisting of a refinery asphalt residue (ASPR), was studied in relation to the influence of its aggregation states on the fluidity of the wax model systems. All samples were evaluated through the pour point test, according to the ASTM D-97 standard. The results indicated that both the ASPR and the commercial poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) can improve the fluidity. Synergistic effect, using both together, was verified by the significant reduction of pour point for model systems with wax content as high as 13% m v-1. That action was closely related to the concentration of ASPR and its aggregation state, as indicated by tests with different wax concentrations.

Predicting the compatibility of crude oils from different streams can be done by applying models that use the solubility parameter of the oils. The approximate solubility parameter value of a given crude oil can be calculated by observing the asphaltene precipitation onset caused by titration with n-heptane. For oils whose precipitation onset is not well defined, a small quantity of another petroleum with easily detected onset can be added. It would be ideal to always use the same petroleum for this addition, but this is obviously not possible. The purpose of this study was to replace this petroleum by a synthetic molecule. Therefore, molecules were selected and synthesized to obtain structures containing aromatic ring, aliphatic chain and heteroatom. The molecules were characterized by infrared spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, elemental analysis and gel permeation chromatography. Nitrated cardanol, polycardanol obtained by addition polymerization (PCA) and nitrated PCA presented the desired behavior. However, the concentration of the molecule in toluene needs to be adjusted in function of the characteristics of the petroleum. For a particular crude oil, when model molecule present solubility in a wider solubility parameter range, lower concentration will require to identify the precipitation onset of that oil.

Crude oils containing large quantities of waxes, and in situations where sudden temperature drops occur, a crystalline network can be formed, generating flow difficulties in production, transfer and offloading lines. Despite the scientific and economic importance of this phenomenon, correlations between the behavior of petroleum in relation to its pour point are scarce in the literature. In this work, nine crude oil samples were characterized regarding density, water content, wax fraction (one- and two-dimensional chromatography), pour point, yield stress and wax appearance temperature. The results showed that the storage conditions and oil characteristics had a strong influence on the pour point. Yield stress was influenced by initial temperature of the sample, cooling rate and shear rate during cooling. Finally, the content of aromatic compounds in oil with low concentration of n-alkanes can contribute to increase the pour point.