Review of Paraffin Deposition Research under Multiphase Flow Conditions

Paraffin deposition in subsea pipelines is one of the flow assurance problems for oil and gas production. A reliable paraffin deposition prediction tool is needed to develop mitigation strategies. Most of the studies address single-phase paraffin deposition. However, in practice, multiphase flow is a common occurrence during oil and gas production. Paraffin deposition prediction under multiphase flowing conditions is largely ignored. The current practice is to use single-phase paraffin deposition models in conjunction with multiphase flow hydrodynamic and thermal models. Thermal models used mostly do not consider the flow pattern effects rigorously. The use of a single-phase paraffin deposition model for multiphase flow is not proper and may lead to significant uncertainty in predictions. Thus, there is a need to better understand paraffin deposition under multiphase flow conditions. A limited number of research studies has been conducted. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art in multiphase paraffin deposition. Gas–oil and oil–water paraffin deposition models, experimental data, deposition testing techniques, and deposit characterization methods are summarized and discussed. This review also discusses the key challenges and the areas for the advancement of multiphase paraffin deposition research.