Development of Test Method and Environmentally Acceptable Inhibitors for Zinc Sulfide Deposited in Oil and Gas Fields

Abstract

Abstract Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is an exotic scale formed in the oil and gas fields, especially in HT/HP wells. It is relatively difficult to test ZnS formation and inhibition in the laboratory using traditional static jar and dynamic loop tests due to the oxidization during the test and its naturally ‘soft’ scale characteristic. Limited studies have been focused on ZnS and the detailed inhibition mechanisms are still unknown. In this paper, a newly developed stress test method has been applied to evaluate the performance and mechanisms of ZnS inhibition. Compared with the traditional test methods, it shows good reproducibility and provides a quick and effective way to evaluate the performance of inhibitors and information to understand the mechanisms of inhibition. More than 15 typical scale inhibitors, representing several different types, have been tested using this newly developed method. The ZnS scale inhibitors were classified as three types based on the inhibition mechanisms from this work: Type 1: Dispersion and nucleation inhibitors. These scale inhibitors showed nucleation and growth inhibition effect at low concentrations of sulfide and dispersion effect at high concentrations of sulfide. Type 2: Nucleation and growth scale inhibitors. These scale inhibitors inhibit nucleation and growth of ZnS formation, where the test can be stressed further. Type 3: Scale inhibitors with poor performance on ZnS inhibition. The turbidity and stress curve did not change obviously in the presence of scale inhibitors. This paper will give a comprehensive study of ZnS formation and inhibition, including scale prediction, development of test method and inhibitors, insight into the mechanism of ZnS inhibition and identification of environmentally acceptable inhibitors.