Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.57, No.34, 11493-11504, 2018
Evaluation of Barium Sulfate Scale Inhibition Using Relative Permeability Modifier Polymers as Adsorption Enhancer for Mature Offshore Well Treatments in Campos Basin, Brazil
In many mature offshore fields, high water cuts and potential scale deposition are some of the toughest challenges operators need to face. Two common practices used to deal with these challenges are relative permeability modifiers (RPM) polymer injection and scale inhibitor squeeze treatments. Even though many fields face these two challenges simultaneously, little is known about concomitant application of these treatments. In this paper, the effect of applying RPM polymers prior to inhibitor squeeze in the effectiveness of the last treatment is evaluated for sandstone rocks of Campos Basin, Brazil. Sequential laboratory injections in Campos Basin rocks of commercial cationic and anionic polyacrylamide and polyaluminum chloride (PAC) as cross-linking agent were employed prior to the injection of a commercial organophosphonic acid type inhibitor for barium sulfate scale. It was found that the polymers employed are capable of reducing the permeability of porous media to water and increasing the retention time of the scale inhibitor simultaneously. The tests also indicated that the inhibitor's longer retention time is associated with the interaction with an outer cationic layer of the cross-linking agent. The adsorption isotherms were calculated and compared with Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, and Toth models, the last two being the most accurate in representing the adsorption system for these tests.