Oil Pipe Cleaning

The importance of oil pipe cleaning cannot be underemphasized. More than ever, in these uncertain times, keeping a nation’s oil pipelines functional and efficient is a key national security concern. In addition, it is often said that many of these pipelines were put in place years ago, and as a consequence they are beginning to get more than a little long in the tooth. A good maintenance program can definitely help keep the quality of a country’s oil pipelines high by helping them resist damage and corrosion, and, by doing so, can help guarantee national energy security and stability as well. 

Part and parcel of a good oil pipeline maintenance program is of course an excellent oil pipe cleaning program. This is quite necessary given that over time, many substances can form deposits in these pipelines as oil passes through them, from hydrocarbons to mineral scales and asphaltene, and even water. If and when deposits pile up, they decrease the internal size of the pipeline and increase its pressure. This can be disastrous, because under such high-pressure situations, the weaker segments of the pipeline can very well give way, resulting in a pipeline leak, a loss of oil and an environmental catastrophe. 

There are three basic methods by which oil pipe cleaning takes place. The first is a purely mechanical method. This makes use of certain sorts of equipment which are specially designed to clean the interiors of oil pipes, known as “pigs” or pipeline inspection gauges. These are sent into the pipeline and work by manually removing the deposits within the pipeline itself. 

The second basic method is a purely chemical method. This method employs certain cleaning substances that are mixed with other substances, such as water, isopropyl alcohol or methanol, and which are forced through a pipeline in order to dissolve and eliminate pipeline clogs.

The third and final method is a combination of the two, known as ‘advanced chemical cleaning’. In this method, a chemical solution is prepared, and then it is injected into a pipeline that is clogged and needs cleaning. Then, once the solution is in place, pigs are also placed inside the pipeline to aid in the mixing process and manually remove the combination of the material clogging the pipeline and the injected chemical solution itself. This third method is considered the most effective method by far by which oil pipe cleaning can be effected.