Assessing the Biological Inhibitors Effect on Crude Oil Wax Appearance Temperature Reduction

Abstract

To assess the effect of micro-organisms on the reduction of wax appearance temperature (WAT) of waxy crude oil, some appropriate strains were obtained from contaminated samples exposed to hydrocarbon compounds for a long time. By conducting some screening tests, four strains were chosen and aerated in a bioreactor; they were then grown in some hydrocarbon environments in order to produce biological inhibitors. The ability of the biological inhibitors in wax deposition prevention or reduction of WAT is assessed. The WAT is determined by means of the optical absorption spectroscopy method. The absorption plots show that biological compounds are highly effective in reducing WAT; however, different strains are not of the same efficiency. In some cases, the efficiency of biological inhibitors is more than chemical inhibitors. The optimization experiments were run with the objective of achieving the maximum WAT reduction through the Taguchi design method, and the optimum cultivation condition was identified. According to the analysis of variance, pH with a contribution of 49.63% is the most influential factor on the cultivation of the most efficient micro-organisms. The factors of temperature, the inoculation fluid, and nitrogen concentrations are ranked after pH with the contributions of 32.39, 7.92, and 1.39% respectively.

Keywords

• waxy crude oil
• biological inhibitors
• wax appearance temperature