Determination of weight values of influence factors for wax deposition rate of waxy crude oil in pipeline

There are many complex factors affecting wax deposition rate of waxy crude oil. Their priority is particularly important for building a wax deposition prediction model. In this paper, 7 principal influence factors are selected, and their relationships are defined with the principal component analysis method, with their weight values quantified. Moreover, these influence factors are prioritized by influence degree. Taking the Qinghai Crude Oil as an example, its wax deposition rates obtained under two kinds of experimental conditions are analyzed. The results show that three influence factors (i.e. pipe wall shear stress, oil temperature and wax molecular concentration gradient) have the greatest contribution to the wax deposition rate, and the weight values sequences of these factors under two kinds of experimental conditions are basically the same, which also confirms the reliability of this method in determining the weight values of influence factors for wax deposition.