Non-Emulsifying, New Anti-Agglomerant Developments

摘要

Anti-agglomerant (AA) has emerged over the last decade as a new technology for offshore hydrate control thanks to itsrnunique hydrate control mechanism and lower application dosage. However, field operational issues, such as fluidsrnseparation, water quality and corrosivity in the presence of protic solvents, have prevented the growth of this technologyrnindustry-wide as a reliable and efficient hydrate control alternative to methanol and monoethylene glycol.rnIn this paper, we are reporting a new AA product formulated with a newly-developed proprietary chemistry. The productrnhas been tested under field implementation conditions in hydrate control performance (dose rate, salinity, water cuts andrntypes of hydrocarbon), fluids emulsions and water quality, and corrosion tendency (on both SS304 and SS316). A newrnmethod using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and gas chromatography withrnNitrogen/Phosphorus Sensitive Detection (GC/PND) has been developed to quantify AA partitioning and distribution in thernfluids (hydrocarbon and water phases). The relationship between fluids quality and AA actives partitioning in both aqueousrnand hydrocarbon phases has also been established to elucidate why the new AA provides much improved fluids separationrnand water quality. It also confirms the observations made through bottle shaking testing.rnUnder severe lab testing conditions where quaternary ammonium chemistries show corrosion and pitting on both SS340Lrnand SS316L, the new AA product offers satisfying material compatibility, although it has the same solvent package asrnexisting commercial AAs. Comparison of toxicological properties with different AA chemistries has also been conducted.rnUnder the CEFAS testing protocol, the new AA chemistry presents improved environmental properties over conventional AArnchemistries.