International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2021 Vol. 5, Issue 9, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 147-151 Published Online January 2021 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com) 147 THE EFFECT OF SILICA BASED NANOCOMPOSITE POUR POINT DEPRESSANT ON THE WAXY CRUDE OIL OF NORTH-EAST INDIA Rituraj Singh Department of Petroleum Engineering, DUIET, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India Prasenjit Talukdar Department of Petroleum Engineering, DUIET, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India Abstract— In the aura of this research we developed the grafted nanocomposite pour point depressant by culmination of a set of monomers namely acrylamide, maleic anhydride, styrene, and octadecyl methacrylate and further grafted to nano silica for improving the flow properties and thereby decrease the temperature of pour point value of the North- East Indian waxy based crude oil. Moreover, to emphasize and understand the central effects of different concentrations of synthesized nanocomposite pour point depressants on the pour point of waxy crude oil, several important experiments were undergone and later its results were compared with the commercial pour point depressant. In addition, the rheological props of the sample crude were also analyzed with and without additives. The results shows that the synthesized nanocomposite has more effectively reduced the viscosity as well as pour point of the sample to desired value when compared to that of the commercially used pour point depressant. Keywords: Grafted Nanocomposite, Pour Point Depressant, Wax, Crude Oil, Rheology, Nano silica, Viscosity I. INTRODUCTION The crude of the North-East Indian states like Assam has high percentage of paraffins mix and is saturated with wax. This property of the crude causes development of high pour point and viscosity which create severe flow related problems during the pipeline transportation from upstream to downstream. As soon as the temperature falls below the specific Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT) of the crude oil, paraffin present in it starts depositing on the inner walls of pipelines and creates obstruction to the crude flow. This deposition has non-repairable effects causing blockage to the fluid flow which may be fatal and cause pipe rupture. It has impacts on both economy of the transporting company as well as the environment. [1, 2]. Various attempts have been sighted before to cope with this prevailing issue such as the use of chemical inhibitors like addition of polymers to transporting crude oil. Polymers have been widely in use in perspective of the modern world due to their cost effectiveness and simple manufacturing process. A common use of polymers is the development of Polymeric Pour Point Depressants (PPDs) to improve the rheological properties of waxy crude oil. Out of all these, the comb-like copolymers type and the EVA type PPDs has excellent adaptation and pour point depressing properties and therefore commonly recommended for use in the crude oil transportation. These two forms of polymeric PPDs often develop polar groups and nonpolar carbon chains. The non-polar constituent will help in paraffin precipitation through nucleation and co- crystallization, while the polar groups will create a repulsive effect towards wax crystal deposition and slowdown their growth. Thereby altering the structural framework and wax crystal growth [3, 4]. In recent years researchers have developed interest in developing organic-inorganic Nano composites as they have improved properties such as improvement of flow performance of traditional polymeric PPDs, improvement in mechanical and thermal properties. These Nano composites are formed by little dispersion of non-organic particles into a polymeric matrix. One of the widely used additive is Smectite clay [5, 6]. The dispersed polymeric clay is divide into two forms, intercalated (the registry of clay layer is maintained) and exfoliated (the registry of clay layer is lost). The effect of the exfoliated clay when held in polymers produces high performance Nano composite owing to the abundance of a large number of clay that offers a large area layer for interaction with the polymeric matrix [7]. Various researchers developed PMMA-montmorillonite (MMT) Nanohybrid to improve flow properties and further investigated that exfoliated has effectively improved rheological characteristics of crude oil. Yao et al. compared polyoctadecrylate and polyoctadecylacrylate-clay Nano composite as PPD. It was seen that the addition of modifies clay to polyoctadecrylate improved the rheology properties of crude oil, while the wax crystals develop at elevated temperature [8, 9]. In this research, of a set of monomers namely acrylamide, maleic anhydride, styrene, and octadecyl methacrylate and further grafted to nano silica and characterized by FESEM as well as FTIR analysis. Then, the effect of different concentrations of PPD on pour point were studied. Finally, a thorough investigation of the waxy crude oil’s rheology was accomplished using the commercial and synthesized nanocomposite PPD for its suitability in pipeline transportation of waxy crude oil.