A comparative analysis of the instrumental base and test methods for qualitative and quantitative studies of waxing processes and the selection of wax inhibitors is presented. The drawbacks of the static test methods used are substantiated, which allow, at best, to estimate the intensity or indirect indicators characterizing the dynamics of the pipe waxing process in model laboratory conditions, the results of which are suitable only for solving a narrow range of problems – comparing the tendency of different oil composition to form wax deposits and the effectiveness of wax inhibitors. The data obtained in this way, even in a wide temperature range, do not effectively predict the course and development of the process under conditions of various regimes of oil flow modes through non-isothermal pipelines. In particular, the ineffectiveness of the used depressor inhibitors on commercial oils under prolonged test conditions has been experimentally proved, where the latter can act as surfactants that, on the one hand, reduce the amount of deposits in the flow and at the same time prevent the washout of the already formed layer in the near-wall zone. It is noted that temperature conditions are only a factor in the formation of the deposits themselves, and do not determine the dynamics of their accumulation on the inner surface of the pipe wall. To assess the kinetics of the waxing process in time, only methods based on in-line tests are applicable. A thermohydraulic testing installation is proposed, developed for carrying out in-line experimental studies of the dynamics and kinetics of the wax deposition process of non-isothermal main oil pipelines, which reproduces conditions close to operating ones, not only taking into account unsteady heat-mass transfer and the level of shear stresses, but also flow regime modes, up to developed turbulent ones, at which they have the place where the surface layer of sediments was washed away due to pulsations in the wall zone for the possibility of applying the results of experimental studies from lab and testing installation data to the operating modes of oil pipelines, the boundary test conditions have been determined.
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