The Determination on the Minimum Allowable Inlet Temperature of Waxy Crude Oil Pipeline

By analyzing the part-gel-shutdown accident occurred in two waxy crude pipelines, it is considered that for a waxy crude oil pipeline operated continuously or intermittently, the downstream inlet temperature of oil must be a certain temperature which is 3 C higher than its pour point in the winter or lower ground temperature. In other seasons, the inlet temperature may be lower than the certain temperature when ground temperature is higher. The determination of minimum allowable inlet temperature should be based on the allowable shutdown time, rheology and yield behavior of crude oil, temperature condition, start-up pressure and flow rate to do a quantitative calculation and combine with the results of site test.