Chemical method of liquefaction and dispersion of paraffin waxes, asphaltenes and coke derived from various sources

摘要

A chemical composition comprising selected surfactants, dispersants, and degreasers that liquefy, disperse, demulsify, degrease, inhibit corrosion and scale formation, and lower the pour point of a petroleum, coal, Fischer-Tropsch synthesized, or naturally occurring paraffin-based wax and asphaltene. The composition preferably contains (1) a mixture of oil soluble, surface active polyethoxylated compounds; (2) a mixture of organic solvents (non-hydrocarbon) used as degreasing agents, pine oil, and butyl cellusolve; (3) a mixture of oil- and water-soluble dispersing copolymers of partially sulfonated, maleic anhydride and polystyrene with a molecular weight ranging from about 2,000 to about 2,000,000; and (4) a mixture of saturated higher fatty acids and an alkyl-phenolic based compound acting as corrosion inhibitors. Such a product is capable of converting crystalline wax (paraffin) in, for example, slop oil into an amorphous form of wax at room temperature, allowing the wax to be dissolved in, for example, crude oil without the need for heating, and maintaining it in solution at room temperature, substantially reducing, indeed in some applications, preventing, for example, wax build-up in pipelines, processing and transportation equipment, etc., and the recovery of the hydrocarbons in the slop oil. The surface active agent of the composition achieves this, it is believed, by reducing the surface tension of the wax. The preferred combined composition preferably also provides effective corrosion & scale formation inhibitors (protection), demulsifiers, degreasers and pour point & cloud point depressants.