Aminated Copolymers as Flow Improvers for Super-viscous Crude Oils

The new flow improvers for super-viscous crude oils were developed via esterification of polybasic high carbon alcohol with methacrylate and copolymerization of monomers followed by amination of copolymers.The structure of the synthesized polymer flow improver additive was confirmed by IR spectroscopy and the crystal structure of the flow improver additives were determined by X-ray diffrac- tion analysis.The structure of wax crystals was also studied at the same time.The results showed that the wax crystal structure was closely related with the crystal structure of the flow improver,which could change the pour point depression and viscosity reduction behavior of the crude oil.When the wax crystal structure matched well with that of the additive,the wax crystals were dispersed satisfactorily, resulting in favorable effects in terms of pour point depression and viscosity reduction.The new synthe- sized aminated polymer flow improver additive was most efficient for treating super-viscous crude oils. The super-viscous crude oil had a high content of resins and asphaltenes,which might aggregate onto the surface of wax crystals to form blocks to limit the crude oil fluidity.However,amination of copolymers having similar structure with the resins and asphaltenes contained in crude oil could dissolve the huge polar groups to make the deposit formation difficult.