Omniphobic/superhydrophobic surface effect on oil and gas flow: A critical review

Abstract

Flow assurance in the petroleum business of the oil and gas industry ensures the efficient and continuous flow of hydrocarbons from production facilities to consumers. Impurities in oil and gas can cause corrosion and erosion, hydrate formation, scaling, and fouling, resulting in flow limits and reduced operating efficiency. The significant flow assurance issues must be managed through systematic exploration of effective mitigation and management approaches. The objective of this paper is to highlight the latest research in the field of flow assurance, including the application of superhydrophobic or omniphobic coatings to prevent scale growth, asphaltene precipitation, wax deposition, and hydrate formation. This review will provide new perspectives into the basic mechanistic mechanisms of deposition and blockage in oil and gas production systems, assisting in the development of novel methods compared to the employment of commercial chemical or mechanical techniques. Overall, the flow assurance engineers will gain new perspectives from this study regarding how to deal with the risk of pipeline blockage caused by the problems mentioned earlier.