Impacts of Temperature on the Silicate Scale Severity and Morphologies Studies

ASP flooding is one of the most promising and cost-effective Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR) methods. Nevertheless, it faces the problem of causing severe silicate scale formation in sandstone reservoirs. As the ASP chemical package is injected and progresses towards the production well, the alkali reacts with the formation of water and rock minerals which trigger the increase of the scaling ions concentration (Ca2+, CO32-, SiO23-) within the system. As the production fluid moves into or near the well, changes in pressure and temperature will be encountered resulting in silicate scale formation in the perforations, casing, tubing, and surface facilities. This study was conducted to determine how temperature affected the severity of silicate scales and the morphology of silicate scales produced as well as the effect of different Mg/Ca stoichiometric ratios. In these experiments, the silicate scale was reproduced by allowing the reaction of magnesium and calcium (to represent the formation water), and silicate ions (to represent the ASP slug) for 22 hours at room temperature/ 60?C/ 90?C at a constant pH of 8.5 and ambient pressure. Visual inspection of the formation of precipitates was carried out. The filtrate was analysed by AAS and the corresponding precipitates were analysed using FTIR, XRF, and XRD techniques.