Low-temperature oxidation characteristics of pipeline wax

Four samples of pipeline wax from a North Sea crude oil pipeline have been examined in a microcalorimeter across a range of temperatures. The samples, which weighed a little under a gram, gave heat-release rates up to about 20 mu W, and the initial temperature history is such that there is a small amount of melting which is manifest as a negative microcalorimeter signal. Estimated activation energies for the oxidation are of the expected order of magnitude, though a little low.