In order to provide flow assurance for a subsea line, there are many factors that must be accounted for, which are often specific to the well or field. Chemical additives are frequently used to control the deposition of one species or another, but these chemicals are costly and there exist few solutions which can address multiple depositing species at once. Among flow assurance concerns, clathrate hydrates, asphaltenes, waxes, scale and corrosion make up a large number of potential challenges. These species will deposit under different conditions, depending on thermodynamic and compositional conditions inside the pipeline. Under certain conditions, several of these species may nucleate, precipitate, and deposit all at once.
For this work, a surface treatment was created with the potential to resist deposition from multiple species, while also protecting pipe surfaces from corrosion. Due to a combination of low surface energy, oleophobicity, and low surface roughness, this surface treatment has been shown to resist deposit formation for multiple flow assurance species. Data from static and flowing systems have been used to show the treatment's effectiveness.