Digital Oil Field: Real Time pH Monitoring and Automatic Neutralization System Using Smart Phone/Watch/PC and Microcontroller in Hydrogen Sulfide Formations

Abstract

Abstract In the last decade, the oil and gas industry has been extended in direction of Digital Oilfield (DOF) approaches (i.e. using smart phone/watch, historians and data management) in many fields such as drilling and health-safety-environment, to improve efficiency and reduce cost. DOF helps in real-time data transfer, monitoring, data cleaning and processing, interpretation, and visualization to make an optimal decision. Moreover, the DOF system has an ability to self-learning via feeding the labeled historical data to update the entire model. Monitoring, surveillance, diagnostic and modeling management can be made by a person(s) observing the job remotely, rather than locally, with potential for significant cost savings by cooperating various experts to data analysis. Also, real-time system creates continuous well performance monitoring system, thus the system provided a platform for better understanding of the effects of the reservoir behavior which could be reflected on optimizing production operations and enhanced health, safety and environment. In this project, a controlling system is used to maintain and treat pH of drilling mud, as well as using smart devices to monitor the data at real time. This paper describes a lab-scale flow loop drilling system with real-time monitoring and treatment systems for mud H2S contamination control. The readings of the pH level, electrical conductivity, and pH neutralization chemical valve opening are real-time monitored and control remotely via Internet by using a smart phone to view the streamed data to authorized person as trends for each parameter/sensor. The results show, the proposed system monitors the streamed data for detectable events and triggers automated notifications to personnel who are ‘following’ the job. In this manner, an operator can be alerted when the H2S is indicated by a significant change in EC accompanied by decreasing pH, an automatic mud treatment control system, and monitored by the smart devices, activates to restore and maintain a targeted pH value. The presence of H2S in hydrogen sulfide bearing formations introduces significant risks due to its extreme toxicity and its corrosive effects on drilling rig equipment. To ensure protection of drilling operation personnel, a real-time pH/EC monitoring system is developed using a remote and smart control unit that could send alerts and control the treatment process while simulating and monitoring H2S influx on smart phone and smart watch. This project demonstrates the usage of an edge technology in petroleum industry that meets future aspirations of oil and gas industry, which is represented by the self-learning system that could improve the results and increase its accuracy by using the continuous feed of data to the system database.