Iron-tolerant scale inhibitors
AssigneeFinoric, LLC
InventorsDeepak Patil, Ambrish Kamdar
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention comprise compositions and methods for inhibiting the formation of scales in wellbore environments with high levels of dissolved iron. The composition comprises compounds made with sugar acids, such as aldonic acids, ulosonic acids, uronic acids, and/or aldaric acids, and/or salts, esters, and ethers thereof. These sugar acids can be used in conjunction with conventional threshold scale inhibitors, comprising phosphonates, phosphates, aminocarboxylates, amino acids, and polymers containing carboxylic acids, sulfonic acids, phosphonates, phosphates. The resulting scale inhibition mixture minimizes scale formation from various cations while simultaneously acting as a chelating agent.
Claims11
A solution for inhibiting the deposition of mineral scales in an iron-rich brine comprising:
- a scale inhibitor comprising a phosphonate or a polymeric compound, wherein the scale inhibitor is present at a concentration between 0.001 wt % and 99.999 wt %;
- and
- an additive comprising a sugar acid or a precursor compound thereof, wherein the additive is present at a concentration between 0.0001% to 99.99 wt %.
A method of treating an oil or gas production system comprising blending a scale inhibitor with a sugar acid of the general formula:
- wherein R comprises COOH, R1 comprises H, OH, O, NH, or NH2, and R2 comprises O or COOH, and wherein the blend comprising the sugar acid and the scale inhibitor is placed in the oil or gas production system to inhibit the deposition of scales comprising hydroxides, bicarbonates, sulfates, or carbonates of calcium, barium, strontium, iron, or a mixture thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.