Halite scale (NaCl salt) is one of the most acute scale problems in the oil and gas industry. Comparing with other barely soluble scale minerals, the solubility product (Ksp) of halite is about 1010.1 and 1011.5 times larger than that of calcite and barite, respectively. Such extremely large solubility leads to the phenomenon that halite scale usually occurs with massive amount in a very short time due to very minor condition changes. As a result, halite scale can lead to significant economic loss via a full blockage of production tubing, severe downhole facility damage, and long-term production interruption. In order to effectively control halite scale formation, scale inhibitors have been widely used in addition to fresh water flushing which is extremely water resources consuming. However, few methods are available to accurately test the performance of halite scale inhibitors due to the difficulty of preparing halite-oversaturated solution and accurately monitoring the scaling kinetics changes. In this study, a new testing method has been developed to test halite scale inhibitor performance in a fast and accurate manner. Halite supersaturated solution was generated via the addition of concentrated CaCl2 solution into near-saturation halite solution at controlled temperature. The halite scaling kinetics was accurately measured using a non-intrusive in-situ laser apparatus with or without the addition of various scale inhibitors. This new method is fast, accurate, and highly reproducible. It is expected to facilitate new halite scale inhibitor development and improve halite scale mitigation.

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A New Testing Method for Fast and Accurate Halite Scale Inhibitor Screening

  • Kui Zhang,
  • Jie-jing Nie,
  • Ye-xin Fang,
  • Han Hao,
  • Ming-jie Wang,
  • Zhao-yi Dai

摘要

Halite scale (NaCl salt) is one of the most acute scale problems in the oil and gas industry. Comparing with other barely soluble scale minerals, the solubility product (Ksp) of halite is about 1010.1 and 1011.5 times larger than that of calcite and barite, respectively. Such extremely large solubility leads to the phenomenon that halite scale usually occurs with massive amount in a very short time due to very minor condition changes. As a result, halite scale can lead to significant economic loss via a full blockage of production tubing, severe downhole facility damage, and long-term production interruption. In order to effectively control halite scale formation, scale inhibitors have been widely used in addition to fresh water flushing which is extremely water resources consuming. However, few methods are available to accurately test the performance of halite scale inhibitors due to the difficulty of preparing halite-oversaturated solution and accurately monitoring the scaling kinetics changes. In this study, a new testing method has been developed to test halite scale inhibitor performance in a fast and accurate manner. Halite supersaturated solution was generated via the addition of concentrated CaCl2 solution into near-saturation halite solution at controlled temperature. The halite scaling kinetics was accurately measured using a non-intrusive in-situ laser apparatus with or without the addition of various scale inhibitors. This new method is fast, accurate, and highly reproducible. It is expected to facilitate new halite scale inhibitor development and improve halite scale mitigation.