A critical review on the development of wax inhibiting agent in facilitating remediation process of contaminated groundwater

• Main Authors: Alpandi, A.H., Husin, H., Sidek, A.
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2021
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85116470942&doi=10.1007%2fs11356-021-16791-1&partnerID=40&md5=deac5099fee7ee22673f3c909e23dc79; http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29415/

Transportation of crude oil and refined petroleum is the main function of pipeline system in petroleum industry. Unfortunately, wax precipitation has become a serious problem for the petroleum industry where it causes pipeline blockage and eventually results in operational catastrophe. Up-to-date, the technique used to mitigate wax deposition by injecting chemical wax inhibiting agent remains a debate amongst researchers. This review addresses the evolution of chemical wax inhibitor generations started from polymer-based in the early 1980s, followed by biosurfactant-based in the late 1990s and finally plant-based or agricultural-based in recent years. Pivoting to environmental impact, petroleum industry is amidst finding a green wax inhibiting agent to solve wax deposition problem that occurs during the transportation of crude oil whilst facilitating the remediation process of contaminated groundwater. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.