Modeling and simulation of paraffin solubility in circular pipes in laminar regime flow

The paraffinic wax deposition of the crude oil reduces pipe's flow area, causing, consequently, larger costs for the oil industry. The solubilization of paraffin using solvents is a viable solution, especially in pipes within treatment plants and oil processing, where use other methods has been restricted, such as the “pig”. This paper proposes a method to calculate the paraffin wax solubility in solvent, based on solid-liquid thermodynamic approach for this was proposed a discredited mathematical model for heat and mass transfer. The simplified model is able to successfully reproduce many of the known trends of the paraffin solubility. These models were implemented in programming software, where it was possible to obtain results, as variations in the length of pipe, type of solvent and inlet temperature. The models produced adequate solutions, maintaining continuity of differential energy and mass balance equations, with a viable physical interpretation.