Hydrate & Wax Testing

DragX has demonstrated excellent qualities in preventing plugs of hydrate and repelling wax deposition in pipelines operating under high pressures and in low temperatures.

Hydrates are solids that form when free water and natural gas combine at high pressure and low temperatures. Hydrate formation can also occur in oil wells that produce some water, creating a slurry of solids that are capable of building up, constricting flow, and plugging the pipe.

Separately, the presence of wax in crude oil can lead to the formation of wax deposits on the walls of pipelines and slowly increase in the pipe roughness while constricting flow. Significant increases in pumping pressure are caused by this surface roughness and reduced pipe diameter creating additional costs and inefficient flow.

DragX is perfectly suited to combat both conditions and maintain pipe integrity while providing flow assurance.

The images to the right demonstrate the treated and untreated coupons tested by CSM. The graph above visualizes the data of deposited solid mass on the coupons.

While pipeline operators continue to seek technologies that control deposition and provide flow assurance, in-situ-applied epoxy coatings have been an industry last resort. In testing at CSM, DragX was shown that it can be a frontline solution. DragX vastly outperformed other tested treatments and the control (uncoated) pipe in repulsion of asphaltenes in crude oil.

There was a remarkable visual difference observed in toluene wash solutions from an uncoated substrate versus a DragX-treated substrate. The dark, opaque color of the left picture below indicates higher amounts of deposited materials. The translucent, light-colored picture on the right shows that far less debris was able to deposit on the tested substrate when DragX was applied.