Optical analysis of wellbore fluid demulsifiers
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsLi Guo, Jay Paul Deville, William Walter Shumway, Kay Ann Galindo
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide optical methods and systems to evaluate the performance of a demulsifying agent in wellbore fluid. The present embodiments provide an optical system which scans wellbore fluid in order to detect the phase separation caused by a demulsifying agent. Using spectral data, the optical system quantifies the opacity and/or transparency of the different phases in the wellbore fluid in order to evaluate the demulsifying agent.
Claims13
An optical method to evaluate performance of a demulsifying agent in wellbore fluid, the method comprising:
- optically interacting electromagnetic radiation with an emulsified wellbore fluid to produce sample-interacted light, the wellbore fluid comprising an aqueous phase, oil phase, and demulsifying agent;
- optically interacting the sample-interacted light with an optical detector to thereby detect separation of the aqueous and oil phases of the wellbore fluid;
- and
- based upon the detected phase separation, evaluating the performance of the demulsifying agent.
An optical system to evaluate performance of a demulsifying agent in wellbore fluid, the system comprising:
- a user interface;
- and
- processing circuitry communicably coupled to the user interface and configured to execute instructions to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
- optically interacting electromagnetic radiation with an emulsified wellbore fluid to produce sample-interacted light, the wellbore fluid comprising an aqueous phase, oil phase, and demulsifying agent;
- optically interacting the sample-interacted light with an optical detector to thereby detect separation of the aqueous and oil phases of the wellbore fluid;
- and
- based upon the detected phase separation, evaluating the performance of the demulsifying agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.