Design and application of new impeller-type wax-proof device based on speed-increasing wax-proof mechanism

Abstract Wax deposition in oil wells seriously affects hydrocarbon production and causes inevitable economic losses. Especially in rodless pumping wells, due to the lack of the stirring effect of the sucker rod, the waxing of the tubing is more serious. According to the correlation law between flow velocity and wax deposition, a speed-increasing impeller wax prevention device was designed. Based on fluid dynamics, the influence of impeller geometry and equipment process parameters on wax deposition was studied, and the optimization design of the device was proposed. After that, CFD simulations were used to determine the structure parameters of the wax-proof device. The diameters of the impeller hub and rim are 34 mm and 60 mm, respectively; the axial length of the impeller is 42 mm; the number of blades is five; the rotation speed is 600 r/min. The inlet and outlet angle of the blade was designed based on the increasing ability of the impeller's speed. The head of the impeller is used as the basis for determining the distance of the paraffin preventer. Starting from the position prone to the wax deposition, place multiple wax-proof impellers in series in the wellbore. Comparing with traditional wax prevention methods, our experiments showed that this wax-proof device has a good function in wax prevention and improves the economic benefit of high waxy wells. This paper provides a new choice for wax-proof device.