The ability to determine the severity of wax deposition is an extremely important issue for the petroleumindustry in the design and development of deepwater fields. Unfortunately, wax deposition is a complexprocess for which the mechanism is not fully understood. Although much progress has been made in thelast two decades in better understanding this complex process, the ability to accurately account for all thefactors affecting deposition does not currently exist.This presentation examines the effects of two factors on the deposit process: shear and temperature.The effects are illustrated through results from cold finger experiments which are often used as a simplemeans to approximate the deposition process in flowlines. Shown are the effects of shear andtemperature in influencing both the amount of deposition occurring and nature of the deposit formed froma medium gravity Gulf of Mexico (GOM) crude oil.
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