Scale removal
OwnerBentley J. Palmer, Diankui Fu +2inventors
InventorsBentley J. Palmer, Diankui Fu, Roger Card, Matthew J. Miller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for treating a wellbore (or well casing) and the contiguous wellbore area to remove scale (mineral deposits comprised of, e.g., BaSO4, CaCO3, etc.) in the context of hydrocarbon recovery and other applications is disclosed, said method including contacting the scale with a fluid comprised of an ionic liquid or liquids.
Claims46
A method for removing scale deposited in a wellbore or in the near wellbore area of a subterranean formation comprising contacting said scale with an effective amount of a fluid comprising an ionic liquid, or mixture of ionic liquids, solvent for said scale.
A method for removing scale deposited in a wellbore or near wellbore area of a subterranean formation comprising providing precursors of an ionic liquid which react exothermically in a wellbore or near wellbore area of a subterranean formation, and allowing said precursors to react to form an ionic liquid and generate heat in said wellbore or wellbore and near wellbore area.
A composition comprising an ionic liquid, or mixture of ionic liquids, disposed in an encapsulant material adapted for controlled release of the ionic liquid, or mixture thereof.
The composition of claim 41 in which the ionic liquid or liquids of the fluid comprise nitrogen-containing cations, and anions of a Lewis acid or of a non-Lewis acid.
A composition comprising a precursor of an ionic liquid disposed in an encapsulant material adapted for controlled release of the precursor.
A method for removing scale deposited in a wellbore or near wellbore area of a subterranean formation comprising providing an effective amount of an encapsulated fluid in the wellbore or near wellbore area, and releasing or allowing the fluid to be released in the wellbore or near wellbore area, the fluid comprising an ionic liquid, a mixture of ionic liquids, or precursors of an ionic fluid.
A method of dissolving BaSO4 scale comprising contacting the BaSO4 scale with a fluid comprising an ionic liquid or mixture of ionic liquids.
A method of dissolving sludge comprising contacting the sludge with a fluid comprising an ionic liquid or mixture of ionic liquids.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.