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Oilfield metal naphthenate formation and mitigation measures: a review
- Source :
- Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 805-819 (2019)
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- SpringerOpen, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Process facilities for the separation of hydrocarbons from produced water in the oilfield are critical to flow assurance, product quality and environmental compliance. The formation of metal naphthenates, which are emulsion stabilizers and equipment foulers, is deleterious to performance and integrity of these processes and facilities. Manual removal of deposits of these organic salts formed at the oil–water interface during separation processes is difficult and expensive; hence, the best operational option is inhibition. The conventional method for the inhibition of metal naphthenates, which relies on suppressing the deprotonation of naphthenic acids by common ion effect, is no longer tenable because it exacerbates internal corrosion problems in topside facilities. Current industry focus is on the development of effective surface active agents for inhibition of naphthenates. There are a plethora of chemical compounds with naphthenate inhibition potential such as sulphonates, phosphate esters, aminated phosphonates and sulphosuccinates, but compatibility issues make the choice of inhibitor a complicated process. In this paper, the drivers and mechanism of oilfield metal naphthenate formation are reviewed. Surfactants for oilfield metal naphthenate inhibition and the mechanisms of inhibition are highlighted with a view to process optimization.
- Subjects :
- Flow assurance
02 engineering and technology
Corrosion
Crude oil
Metal
lcsh:Petrology
chemistry.chemical_compound
020401 chemical engineering
Naphthenic acid
Process optimization
0204 chemical engineering
lcsh:Petroleum refining. Petroleum products
Inhibition
lcsh:QE420-499
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
Produced water
General Energy
Chemical engineering
chemistry
visual_art
lcsh:TP690-692.5
Emulsion
visual_art.visual_art_medium
Effective surface
0210 nano-technology
Metal naphthenate
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 21900566 and 21900558
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d198dd18c6dd4016bfa9542489fa7739