Effect of water cut on the performance of an asphaltene inhibitor package: experimental and modeling analysis

Abstract

In this work, the influence of water cut on the effectiveness of a newly developed asphaltene inhibitor was studied. The asphaltene inhibitor concentration during adsorption and desorption processes on the rock surface was evaluated at various values of water cut. Inhibitor adsorption on the rock surface was studied by determining the amount of adsorbed reagent when injecting the solution containing the inhibitor into core samples. This was done by measuring the inhibitor concentration at the outlet of the coreholder. Also, the analysis of the inhibitor desorption from the rock surface was performed after the completion of the adsorption process by injecting the solution without the inhibitor. At 500 ppm of the inhibitor, its effectiveness was decreased by only about 2% with a change in water cut from 40 to 90%. The results showed that a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was observed about 3 times faster when the water cut was increased from 40% to 90%. Moreover, the amount of asphaltene adsorption onto the rock surface was decreased from 712 to 502 mg/kg due to an increase in the water cut.