Advances in the research of polymeric pour point depressant for waxy crude oil

In the pipeline transportation of waxy crude oil when the temperature of the waxy crude oil drops lower than the wax appearance temperature (WAT), wax precipitates continuously from oil phase, which brings a series of negative impacts on pipeline performance and even causes complete blockage under severe conditions in recent decades, polymeric pour point depressants have a very important practical application in depressing the pour point and improving the fluidity of waxy crude oil, thus reducing the cost of waxy crude oil pipeline transportation. The most commonly used types of the polymeric pour point depressants include ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers, comb copolymers, and nano-hybrid pour point depressants. In this paper, the structural character, interactive types, and the action mechanism of the polymeric pour point depressants are reviewed with their application and research progress introduced.