Feasibility study for wax deposition imaging in oil pipelines by PGNAA technique

Wax deposition in pipelines is a crucial problem in the oil industry. A method based on the prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis technique was applied to reconstruct the image of wax deposition in oil pipelines. The 2.223 MeV hydrogen capture gamma rays were used to reconstruct the wax deposition image. To validate the method, both MCNP simulation and experiments were performed for wax deposited with a maximum thickness of 20 cm. The performance of the method was simulated using the MCNP code. The experiment was conducted with a 252Cf neutron source and a LaBr3: Ce detector. A good correspondence between the simulations and the experiments was observed. The results obtained indicate that the present approach is efficient for wax deposition imaging in oil pipelines.