A review of nanoparticles and their composites as pour point depressant for waxy crude oil

Abstract

Adding pour point depressant is an important method to solve the poor low temperature rheology of waxy crude oil. Although the traditional polymer pour point depressant has good improvement effect, it has some problems, such as poor resistance to repeated heating and shear. Therefore, nanoparticles are widely used to improve the rheology of crude oil. Although nanoparticles have a certain influence on the improvement of low-temperature rheology, and nanocomposite particles have better improvement effect than single polymer pour point depressant, no one has combed and summarized the influence mechanism of nanoparticles and their composites. This paper introduces three kinds of nanoparticles and their composite materials, briefly describes the performance of the influence of various nanoparticles and their composite particles on the rheology of waxy crude oil, and analyzes the mechanism of their influence on the rheology of waxy crude oil. The analysis of this paper shows that the influence and mechanism of individual nanoparticles on the rheology of crude oil are different due to their different properties. All nanocomposite particles meet the heterogeneous nucleation mechanism, and the polar group of nanocomposite particles is an important factor affecting the effect of nanocomposite particles. Carbon based nanoparticles, especially graphene oxide, promise important research prospect.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Nanoparticles
• nanomaterials
• rheology
• pour point depressant
• mechanism

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 52076036; the Youth Program of Natural Science Foundation of Northeast Petroleum University under Grant 15071120528.