EVALUATION OF GREEN SILICA SCALE INHIBITORS PERFORMANCE USING DYNAMIC TUBE BLOCKING TEST

Abstract

The formation of scales is considered a harmful and expensive problem in the oil and gas industry. Many different types of scales can be formed during oil and gas production, such as calcium carbonate, iron sulfide, barium sulfates, and silicate scales. Scale precipitation can cause a number of issues, including reduced oil and gas production, formation damage, plugging the oil-producing formation matrix, blockages in perforations or gravel packs, restricted/blocked flow lines, safety valves, pump wear, and corrosion underneath deposits. Scale inhibitors are the most effective approach for reducing and preventing scale deposition. In this work, dynamic tube blocking is used to determine the efficiency of chemical inhibitors against silicate scales formed through the minimum inhibitor concentration (MIC). The brine water sample was prepared to simulate the scale formation, and the scale inhibitors were then used to evaluate the minimum inhibitor concentration for scale build-up. From the study, the MIC values for PAMAM-1 and PAMAM-2 were determined to be 10 mg/L and 500 mg/L for PGLU, respectively. Meanwhile, the mixture of PAMAM-1/PGLU and PAMAM-2/PGLU scale inhibitors also has shown good performance by increasing the time for scale build-up. Interestingly, it was found that the mixture of silica scale inhibitors performed better than the scale inhibitors without mixing. Based on the results obtained, the mixture of PAMAM-2/PGLU should be recommended as a silica scale inhibitor that can efficiently and effectively inhibit silica formation.