Calcite and barite precipitation in CaCO3-BaSO4-NaCl and BaSO4-NaCl-CaCl2 aqueous systems: kinetic and microstructural study

Abstract

During the production of hydrocarbons from subterranean reservoirs, scaling with calcium carbonate and barium sulfate causes flux decline and dangerous problems in production facilities. This work is intended to study the effect of calcium ions on the precipitation of barium sulfate (barite); then, the effect of the formed barite on calcium carbonate crystallization. The conductometric and pH methods were used to follow the progress of the precipitation reaction in aqueous medium. The obtained precipitates were characterized by FTIR, RAMAN, SEM, and XRD. It was shown that Ca2+ in the reaction media does not affect the microstructure of barite even for higher calcium–barium molar ratio. It influences the precipitation kinetics and the solubility of barite by the formation of CaSO4° ion pairing as a predominant role of complex formation (CaSO4) and the increase of the ionic strength. In Ca(HCO3)2-BaSO4-NaCl aqueous system, experiments have showed that added or formed barite in the reaction media accelerates calcite precipitation. No effect on the microstructure of heterogeneous formed calcite which remain calcite shape. However the presence of carbonate ions affects slightly the microstructure of barite.