Development of modeling approaches to describe mineral scale deposition kinetics in porous medium and pipe flow system

Abstract Mineral scale deposition is among the most significant water-associated operational issues in oilfield operations. Scale deposition can lead to severe damages both in reservoir and in production systems. However, most of the existing studies and the developed computer models only consider the thermodynamics of scale formation process without taking into account of the kinetic aspect of the issue. Thus, it is difficult to estimate the time frame for scale deposition. In this study, modeling approaches have been developed to describe scale deposition kinetics during fluid flow in a porous medium and in a pipe flow system. The focus is given to the identification of limiting equations in brine chemistry calculations related to scale deposition kinetics. Mathematical equations were obtained to relate the brine chemistry change due to scale deposition with the pressure change over distance and also to relate the fractional change in medium porosity with scale deposition kinetics. Both radial and linear flow geometries were considered and the scenarios with and without a CO 2 gas phase were studied for each flow geometry. This study demonstrates that incorporation of kinetics into a thermodynamics-based model can expand our capacity in obtaining an in-depth understanding of the kinetic aspect of scale deposition process and in estimating the limits on reaction rates. This information can be very useful in evaluating potential operational problems related to scale deposition and in optimizing oilfield scale treatment strategies.