Performance evaluation of microemulsion acid for integrated acid fracturing in Middle Eastern carbonate reservoirs

Considering the characteristics of carbonate reservoirs in the Middle East,a low-viscosity microemulsion acid that can be prepared on site and has an appropriate retardation ability was developed.It was compared with four conventional acid systems(hydrochloric acid,gelled acid,emulsified acid and surfactant acid)through experiments of rotating disk,multistage acid fracturing and core flooding with CT scanning.The micro-etching characteristics and conductivity of fracture surfaces were clarified,and the variation of saturation field during water invasion and flowback of spent acid and the recovery of oil phase relative permeability were quantitatively evaluated.The study shows that the addition of negatively charged agent to the oil core of microemulsion acid can enhance its adsorption capacity on the limestone surface and significantly reduce the H+mass transfer rate.Moreover,the negatively charged oil core is immiscible with the Ca^(2+)salt,so that the microemulsion acid can keep an overall structure not be damaged by Ca^(2+)salt generated during reaction,with adjustable adsorption capacity and stable microemulsion structure.With high vertical permeability along the fracture walls,the microemulsion acid can penetrate into deep fracture wall to form network etching,which helps greatly improve the permeability of reservoirs around the fractures and keep a high conductivity under a high closure pressure.The spent microemulsion acid is miscible with crude oil to form microemulsion.The microemulsion,oil and water are in a nearly miscible state,with basically no water block and low flowback resistance,the flowback of spent acid and the relative permeability of oil are recovered to a high degree.

Electrochemical behavior and electrolytic preparation of lead in eutectic NaCl−KCl melts

A novel molten salt extraction process consisting of chlorination roasting and molten salt electrolysis was proposed to develop a more efficient and environmental friendly technology for recovering lead from spent lead acid batteries(LABs).The feasibility of this process was firstly assessed based on thermodynamics fundamentals.The electrochemical behavior of Pb(II)on a tungsten electrode in the eutectic NaCl−KCl melts at 700℃ was then investigated in detail by transient electrochemical techniques.The results indicated that the reduction reaction of Pb(II)in NaCl−KCl melts was a one-step process exchanging two electrons,and it was determined to be a quasi-reversible diffusion-controlled process.Finally,potentiostatic electrolysis was carried out at−0.6 V(vs Ag/AgCl)in the NaCl−KCl−PbCl2 melts,and the obtained cathodic product was identified as pure Pb by X-ray diffraction analysis.This investigation demonstrated that it is practically feasible to produce pure Pb metal by electrochemical reduction of PbCl2 in eutectic NaCl−KCl melts,and has provided important fundamental for the further study on lead recovery from spent LABs via molten salt extraction process.

Experimental and modelling study of the solubility of CO_2 in various CaCl_2 solutions at different temperatures and pressures

Study of the thermodynamic behaviour of CaCl2-H2O-CO2 systems is important in different scientific areas in the chemical and petroleum engineering fields. For example, a system including salt- H20-CO2 is a common system in CO2 geological storage. During carbonate matrix acidizing, this mixture also appears as the spent acid. Hence, study of the behaviour of this system and the solubility of CO2 in CaCl2 brine in different thermodynamic conditions is critical. In this study, CO2 solubility in 0, 1.90 and 4.80 mol/L CaCl2 solutions at 328.15 to 375.15 K and 68.9 to 206.8 bar were measured. These values are normal for oil reservoirs. A popular thermodynamic model is available in the literature for estimating the CO2 solubility in pure water and NaC1 solutions. In this paper, the available model was modified by experimental work to be applicable for CaCl2 as well. Based on the measured data, the component interaction parameters in the base model were adjusted for a CaCl2-H2O-CO2 system. The developed model could predict CO2 solubility in different conditions with remarkable accuracy, particularly for high concentration solutions and at high pressures. This improvement is up to 65% better than in the base model. This model can be used in Darcy scale models for predicting wormhole propagation during carbonate matrix acidizing.

Corrosion Performance of High Strength 15Cr Martensitic Stainless Steel in Severe Environments

High pressure and high temperature corrosion performance of high strength 15 Cr martensitic stainless steel was studied in different severe environments—live acid（10%HCl＋1.5%HF＋3%HAc＋5.1% corrosion inhibitor）,spent acid and formation water containing CO2.The results show that the corrosion of high strength 15 Cr martensitic stainless steel in live acid is most serious,and the uniform corrosion rate is far greater than those in spent acid and formation water containing CO2 corrosion environments,but all of them can be acceptable for oilfield.Acidizing corrosion inhibitor displays a good matching ability with the high strength 15 Cr martensitic stainless steel in terms of decreasing the uniform corrosion rate,which changes mainly the anodic process of high strength 15 Cr martensitic stainless steel.The corrosion potential moves to the positive direction,thus the corrosion current density decreases significantly.There are some different degrees of pitting of high strength 15 Cr martensitic stainless steel after corrosion tests in live acid,spent acid and formation water containing CO2,and the pitting density aggravates significantly and the maximum pit depth decreases in the corrosion sequence.