Thermodynamics of wax precipitation in petroleum mixtures

A thermodynamic framework is developed for calculating wax precipitation in petroleum mixtures over a wide temperature range. The framework uses the experimentally supported assumption that precipitated wax consists of several solid phases; each solid phase is described as a pure component or pseudocomponent that does not mix with other solid phases. Liquid‐phase properties are obtained from an equation of state. Calculated wax‐precipitation data are in excellent agreement with experimental results for binary and multicomponent hydrocarbon mixtures, including petroleum.