Concern for the environment has led to legislation that is driving the use of chemicals in the off shore North Sea oil industry. The increased awareness and scrutiny of the impact of chemical discharge on the environment is likely to ensure adoption of these, or similar policies, on a global basis. The need for low toxicity, biodegradable and hydrothermally stable scale inhibitors is increasing and greener chemistries are being sought to meet these challenges. This paper describes a barium sulphate and calcium carbonate scale inhibitor that meets low toxicity requirements and the present Norwegian ‘Y1’ criteria for biodegradation. Dynamic scale loop tests are used to evaluate the inhibitor compared to a commercial ‘green’ inhibitor for carbonate and sulphate scales. Hydrothermal studies performed under differing pH regimens demonstrate stability to 180°C and a marginal drop in performance at 200°C thereby showing good potential for squeeze treatment under HPHT conditions in addition to topside application.

Subject
Stability, Test methods, Marine environments, Water, Inhibitor performance, Toxicity, Calcium carbonate, Barium sulfate, Scale inhibitors, Carbonate scales, Calcium, Solutions, Maritime
Keywords:
Scale inhibitor, calcium carbonate, barium sulphate, jar test, dynamic scale loop, water chemistry, hydrothermal stability, adsorption, squeeze treatment
© 2010 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2010
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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