Several important actions can go a long way toward reducing the operational, maintenance, and economic impacts of the black powder on well, pipeline, storage, and process-plant equipment. The following actions should be considered:· Water should be avoided, removed, purified, or drained at every opportunity or when encountered in plant and piping systems. This should be considered in water-injection into wells, hydrotesting, and cleaning operations. Whenever water is introduced, the affected area should be cleaned of moisture and microbes. Without water, microbiologically-influenced corrosion cannot exist.· Methods useful to prevent black powder formation and pipe corrosion include filtering, pigging, and biocide treatment.· Creative methods of testing, filtering, measuring, and chemical treating should be sought to deal with black powder problems. There are no accepted or tried and true methods; everything should be subjected to careful scrutiny.· Companies should raise awareness and train employees and contractors regarding MIC and iron sulphide and its impact on their system. Field and supervisory personnel should be taught about monitoring and sampling procedures, as well as handling and treatment.
展开▼
