Method Measures Effective Scale-Inhibitor Concentration at Low Detection Limit
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: October 2022

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This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 209503, “A Fast and Accurate Method for Scale-Inhibitor Effective Concentration Measurement With Low Detection Limit,” by Xin Wang, Rice University; Zhaoyi Dai, SPE, China University of Geosciences; and Saebom Ko, Rice University, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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The accurate measurement of residual scale-inhibitor concentration in produced brine is essential for scale prevention. However, these scale inhibitors are effective at substoichiometric concentrations in most production conditions. It is difficult to measure such low inhibitor concentration with traditional methods, especially for non- or low-phosphorous polymeric scale inhibitors. In the complete paper, an assay method is developed to determine effective scale-inhibitor concentration. The presented assay method is quick, robust, and accurate, with a relative error of less than 10% even at 1 mg/L of inhibitor.

Experimental Setup and Methods

Brine Chemistry Inhibitor (BCIn) Continuous-Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR) Method.

The schematic of the BCIn CSTR testing apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The original supersaturated solution (OSS) with a designated barite scale inhibitor is injected into the reaction vial with no head space. This OSS may contain zero or a certain amount of scale inhibitor, and it will be stirred continuously and kept at room temperature during the whole test period. At Time 0, the cation titrant solution (TC) and the anion titrant solution (TA) start to be pumped continuously into the reaction vial with the same flow rate by using two syringe pumps. A green laser beam (with a wavelength of 532 nm) is shone through the reaction vial; light intensity is recorded continuously as current by using a multimeter with a photodiode detector in real time. The time between Time 0 and the solution turbidity change, which is detected as current drop, is defined as the critical time.

Without the supply of scale inhibitor from the TC and TA solutions, the inhibitor concentration in the reaction vial decreases exponentially and the inhibitor concentration at Time t can be calculated. With continuous dilution of the inhibitor and continuous supply of the barite supersaturated solution in the reaction vial by TC and TA solution, the small nuclei and crystals begin to accumulate in the reaction vial, resulting in a turbidity change detected by the laser at the critical time.

Because of the exponential decrease of the scale inhibitors, it is observed that, with the same solution composition and residence time, critical time increases linearly with the initial concentration of inhibitor.

A series of tests is designed to match the composition of target brine with different amounts of scale inhibitors. The standard curve can then be developed. For the brine with an unknown amount of scale inhibitor, the inhibitor concentration can be calculated from the measured critical time. The known-additions method also can be used to determine the unknown inhibitor concentration in a sample. This process, and its associated equations, is provided in the complete paper, as is sample pretreatment.