Abstract
The development of a simple, rapid and low cost method based on video image analysis and aimed at the detection of low concentrations of precipitated barium sulfate is described. The proposed system is basically composed of a webcam with a CCD sensor and a conventional dichroic lamp. For this purpose, software for processing and analyzing the digital images based on the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) color system was developed. The proposed method had shown very good repeatability and linearity and also presented higher sensitivity than the standard turbidimetric method. The developed method is presented as a simple alternative for future applications in the study of precipitations of inorganic salts and also for detecting the crystallization of organic compounds.
Highlights
Scale deposition is a common and serious problem in the oil and gas industry
Most commercially available web cameras have automatic adjustments depending on light conditions
This feature is not adequate for methods based on digital video image analysis because its principle is based on changes in color of the object or the analyzed medium
Summary
Scale deposition is a common and serious problem in the oil and gas industry. Scale formation leads to a decrease of the oil flow and sometimes even completely blocks its passage. These phenomena may cause production-equipment failure, increased maintenance cost and decrease in production efficiency [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Barium sulfate (BaSO4) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) are the most common scale-producing chemicals. In the offshore oil and gas production, seawater is injected into the reservoir for pressure maintenance and to improve secondary recovery. Water that exists in the reservoir, called formation water, usually contains barium ions capable of reacting with sulfate anions present in the seawater, producing insoluble barium sulfate. [2,3,12]
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