The Effect of Magnetic Radiation on Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil

The deposition of paraffin wax during the pipeline transportation impedes the flow of crude oil and eventually blocks the pipelines. The hot oiling method is extensively used to control the wax deposition in the oil industry. Consequently, a huge amount of energy is consumed to heat the crude oil by hot water or electrical power every year. In order to save the energy cost, the magnetic paraffin control technology is presented and evaluated with the hot oiling method, and accordingly the effect of the magnetic radiation on the oil transportation is detailed. The experiments carried out have demonstrated that the magnetic treatment can compensate for the resistance rising of the pipeline caused by the hot water reduction. Especially, the transportation of crude oil (at the surrounding temperature of -10°C~-30°C) without any heating has been observed in the Daqing oil field under the radiation of a magnetic field of 120 mT. In addition, the effect of the length of pipelines on the performance of magnetic treatment was also investigated.