The Synergic Effect of Wax Inhibitor and Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitor on Inhibiting the Formation of Cyclopentane Hydrate in Highly Wax-Containing W/O Emulsion

In this work, a kind of co-polymer wax inhibitor EVA (Ethylene-vinyl acetate) and a type of kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI) PVP are doped into W/O emulsion system that containing high content of wax, aiming at testing the effect of two type of polymer on affecting the formation of cyclopentane hydrate respectively, as well as their synergic effect of inhibiting the formation of hydrate with wax in the W/O emulsion system. The results have shown that in the highly wax –containing W/O emulsion system, the wax can extend the critical time of cyclopentane hydrate to some extent. Besides, when these highly wax-containing emulsion systems are doped with EVA co-polymer, the critical time of cyclopentane hydrate is extended obviously, and the growth of hydrate is also inhibited because of the interaction between the EVA copolymer and the wax in the system, which can affect the crystallizing behavior of wax. Moreover, when the KHI is added in the aqueous phase of W/O emulsion, the inhibition of hydrate can be further strengthened, which has demonstrated that using wax inhibitor and the kinetic hydrate inhibitor simultaneously can produce synergic effect on inhibiting the formation and growth of cyclopentane hydrate.