High Temperature Kinetic Scale Inhibitor for Flow Assurance Application

摘要

Scaling and its mitigation is a major challenge faced by the oil and gas industry.Carbonates and sulfates of calcium form scale deposits on the well bore,tubing,flowlines and topside facilities leading to huge economic burden.This paper describes the synthesis,characterization and evaluation of a high temperature stable,threshold/kinetic scale inhibitor which exhibited good performance at low doses at a wide range of pH and temperature.A low molecular weight maleic acid-acrylic acid(MA-AA)co-polymer is synthesized,characterized and tested for calcium carbonate scale inhibition efficiency.Molecular weight of the polymer was determined through gel permeation chromatography.FTIR spectroscopy was used for identifying functional group distribution pattern.Scale inhibition efficiency was measured through chemical screening test,dynamic tube block method and also through electrochemical techniques such as constant potential electrolysis and electrochemical impedance.Crystal structures of the blank and inhibited scale deposits were analyzed using XRD and SEM.The low molecular weight MA-AA copolymersshowed>90% efficiency at 15-20 ppm dosing at common wellbore temperature(90°C).Static and dynamic tests demonstrated excellent inhibition performance.XRD and SEM studies showed the change in crystal morphology and retardation of crystal growth due to inhibitor.