生产

利用纳米技术解决采出水计量不准确的严峻挑战

测量采出水量的仪表上的石蜡沉积会导致读数不准确。新技术解决方案可实现持久的准确性,代替提供临时解决方案的日常维护。

AMI 治疗前电磁流量计被石蜡污染(左); AMI 治疗后 180 天的电磁流量计(右)。
AMI 治疗前电磁流量计被石蜡污染(左);AMI 治疗后 180 天的电磁流量计(右)。

随着能源行业努力重复利用采出水以及采出水处理成本的增加,提高了对更准确测量以节省资金的需求。

美国非常规市场的采出水测量受到仪表上石蜡沉积的影响,导致采出水量读数不准确。该行业开始通过应用新技术解决方案来解决这一日益严重的问题,这些解决方案可以实现持久的准确性,而不是提供临时解决方案的日常维护。

大多数石油和天然气生产商都面临着电磁流量计内表面石蜡堆积的问题。这些仪表通常位于采出水段、生产和测试分离器的下游。石蜡是原油生产中存在的一种蜡状物质,当流体从井口通过地面设备冷却时,石蜡会从溶液中析出。

石蜡如何影响计量

当流体通过管道输送时,它会冷却,导致石蜡凝固并沉积在管道和流量计的壁上。设计用于通过加热去除大部分石蜡的分离器仍然容易积聚少量石蜡,这些石蜡可能会覆盖管道和测量设备。

电磁流量计用于测量管道中导电流体(例如采出水)的体积流量。它们通过在流道上产生磁场来工作,并测量流体流经磁场时感应的电压。

电压与流速和磁场强度成正比,用于计算流体的体积流量。电磁流量计至少包含两个电极,由陶瓷或金属材料组成,具体取决于制造商。电极读取流过仪表的采出水的感应电压。

绝缘衬里放置在仪表内部导电流体和金属体之间。这将被测量的流体与仪表主体隔离,防止流体造成电气短路。

石蜡堆积会影响电磁流量计的准确性和可靠性,因为它会在仪表的电极和衬管上成核。随着时间的推移,电极周围的石蜡沉积会增加,从而基本上使电极与流体绝缘。此时流体的电导率被人为地降低,流量计将读数不足。

如果电极上的石蜡涂层变得足够厚,流量计将与产出水完全绝缘,流量计将其解释为零流量。随着衬管上石蜡涂层的增加,流量计的横截面积减小,从而产生更高的流体速度,从而导致流量计读数过高(Q = Av,其中A是流量的横截面积,v是其平均速度)。

现状:维护和停机

石油和天然气生产商可能会意识到电磁流量计中的石蜡堆积问题,特别是如果他们过去遇到过测量不准确或流量计故障的问题。

据估计,美国非常规石油和天然气市场目前使用的数以万计的电磁流量计很容易受到石蜡沉积的影响。许多操作员已经制定了缓解流量计中石蜡堆积问题的策略,例如使用加热系统将温度维持在石蜡熔点以上,对流量计进行加热,使石蜡保持液态。

其他策略包括化学处理程序,用于溶解电极和衬里上积聚的石蜡,但这些处理成本高昂,并且需要仪表停机。一些公司还可能实施定期维护和清洁程序,以确保流量计正常运行。然而,定期维护和清洁程序既耗时又昂贵。

然而,一些石油和天然气生产商也可能没有意识到电磁流量计中的石蜡堆积问题,特别是如果他们没有全面的维护和监控计划。在这种情况下,流量计错误可能不会被发现,直到导致严重问题或停机。

南德克萨斯案例

德克萨斯州南部的一家石油和天然气运营商不得不每 60 天拉动并清洁其污染的仪表,因为它无法从仪表中获取流量读数。

从 2021 年 10 月开始,该运营商与分销合作伙伴 KopMan Industries 一起部署了现在商业上称为 Aculon 测量完整性 (AMI) 的处理方法,以应对其六台电磁流量计上的石蜡堆积问题。

生产作业中的流量计每米可在 3 至 4 小时内处理完毕。新仪表在一小时内即可轻松处理。处理这些仪表不需要固化时间或温度要求。

由于应用了 AMI,操作员能够将仪表维护与计数之间的时间从 60 天延长至 540 天(即 18 个月)。

最初,在 180 天后对仪表进行了物理检查,发现电极上没有石蜡沉积。此后,由于电磁流量计报告的流量与运营商的每日采出水量保持一致,因此仪表没有因污垢而被拉出进行维护。

AMI 服务包括使用排斥水和碳氢化合物的万能表面改性化学物质清洁、准备和处理磁流量计的表面。Aculon 的全疏化学用于处理陶瓷或金属电极,并通过 2 英寸 5 纳米厚的光学透明处理与表面共价键合。

衬里通常由聚四氟乙烯组成,并经过 Aculon 专为非金属合金表面设计的纳米防护化学物质处理。这种化学方法在石油和天然气行业之外的应用已有二十多年了。

Aculon 自 2000 年代初期以来一直专注于纳米表面改性化学品的合成和制造,并开发了 100 多种产品来改性不同类型基材的表面能。2022 年,Aculon 与 KopMan 合作,该公司已经使用 Aculon 的化学物质清洁、准备和处理设备长达 5 年,处理了 6,000 多件不同的设备。

合作伙伴共同创建了 AMI,该产品已成功用于将此处描述的维护间隔时间延长六米,延长九倍。现在,越来越多的运营商开始分配资金用于电磁流量计的维护,以减少与日常拉动和清洁电磁流量计相关的非生产时间。

自2021年以来,已有超过250个尺寸从2英寸到10英寸的电磁流量计采用了AMI技术。在经过处理的 250 米中,有 200 米用于采出水服务,并在现场进行拉动和清洁。

如今,与碳氢化合物相比,人们较少关注采出水的计量不确定性。然而,随着处理和处置成本的增加、法规、回收需求以及改进泄漏检测的需要,随着压力的增加,这种情况正在发生变化,以确保更准确和可靠地测量采出水。总之,经过现场验证的 AMI 技术能够解决这些问题,同时提高长期流量测量性能。


KopMan Industries 首席执行官兼创始人Clay Wernli是复杂几何形状二手设备再生“洁净”和表面改性处理应用领域的行业领导者。自 1991 年以来,他一直从事炼油厂市场的工业清洁行业。2014 年,他进入专业服务市场,为运营商提供咨询,解决与有机元素、污垢和其他扰乱生产服务的问题相关的挑战。他与 Ohmstede Industrial Services 和 Ohmstead LTD 合作,在炼油厂市场建立了 ONE 计划。他毕业于 AIU 商学院。

Elizabeth Cambre, SPE,是 Aculon 的全球能源业务开发经理。她在斯伦贝谢阿曼、卡塔尔和阿联酋的运营和技术销售部门拥有 15 年的石油和天然气工作经验,负责处理无机和有机结垢问题。她曾是贝克休斯公司的前水力压裂和酸化讲师和新技术产品冠军。此外,她还是 Tendeka 的生产增强总监。她撰写了九本 SPE 出版物,并且是 SPE 国际水力压裂技术委员会的前联合主席。她拥有科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的化学工程、数学、经济学、国际事务和中文(优等荣誉)学位。

原文链接/jpt
Production

Addressing the Mounting Challenge of Produced-Water Metering Inaccuracy With Nanotechnology

Paraffin deposition on the meters measuring produced water volumes causes inaccurate readings. New technology solutions enable lasting accuracy in the place of routine maintenance that provides a temporary solution.

Electromagnetic flowmeter fouled with paraffin prior to AMI treatment (left); electromagnetic flowmeter 180 days post AMI treatment (right).
Electromagnetic flowmeter fouled with paraffin prior to AMI treatment (left); electromagnetic flowmeter 180 days post AMI treatment (right).

As the energy industry strives to reuse produced water and disposal costs of produced water increase, it has elevated the need for more accurate measurement to save money.

Measurement of produced water in the US unconventional market is impacted by paraffin deposition on the meters causing inaccurate readings of the volume of produced water. The industry is starting to address this growing issue by applying new technology solutions that enable lasting accuracy in the place of routine maintenance that provides a temporary solution.

Most oil and gas producers face paraffin buildup on the inside surface of their electromagnetic flowmeters. These meters are typically located on the produced-water leg, downstream of production and test separators. Paraffin, a waxy substance present in crude oil production, drops out of solution as the fluid cools from the wellhead through the surface equipment.

How Paraffin Affects Metering

As the fluid is transported through the pipes, it cools down, causing the paraffin to solidify and deposit on the walls of pipes and flowmeters. Separators that are designed to remove most of the paraffin via heat are still susceptible to the accumulation of small amounts of paraffin that may coat the pipe and measurement devices.

Electromagnetic flowmeters are used to measure the volumetric flow rate of conductive fluids in pipelines, such as produced water. They operate by generating a magnetic field across the flow path and measure the voltage induced by the fluid as it flows through the magnetic field.

The voltage is proportional to the flow velocity and the magnetic field strength, which is used to calculate the volumetric flow rate of the fluid. Electromagnetic flowmeters contain a minimum of two electrodes, composed of ceramic or metallic materials depending upon the manufacturer. The electrodes read the induced voltage of the produced water flowing through the meter.

An insulating liner is placed inside the meter between the conductive fluid and the metal body. This isolates the fluid being measured from the meter body, preventing the fluid from creating an electrical short circuit.

Paraffin buildup affects the accuracy and reliability of electromagnetic flowmeters as it nucleates on the electrodes and the liner of the meter. Over time, the paraffin deposition will increase around the electrodes, essentially insulating the electrodes from the fluid. At this point the conductivity of the fluid is artificially reduced, and the flowmeter will under read.

If the paraffin coating on the electrodes becomes thick enough, a flowmeter will be completely insulated from the produced water, which the meter interprets as zero flow. As the paraffin coating on the liner increases, the cross‑sectional area of the meter is reduced, creating a higher fluid velocity which results in the meter overreading the flowrate (Q = Av where A is the cross-sectional area of flow and v is its average velocity).

Status Quo: Maintenance and Downtime

Oil and gas producers may be aware of paraffin buildup issues in their electromagnetic flowmeters, especially if they have experienced problems with inaccurate measurements or flowmeter failures in the past.

It is estimated that tens of thousands of the electromagnetic flowmeters in service today in the oil and gas unconventional US market are susceptible to paraffin deposition. Many operators have developed strategies to mitigate paraffin buildup issues in their flowmeters, such as heating the meter to keep paraffin in a liquid state by using a heating system that maintains the temperature above the melting point of the paraffin.

Other strategies include chemical treatment programs that are used to dissolve paraffin buildup on the electrodes and liners, but these treatments are costly and require downtime of the meter. Some companies may also implement regular maintenance and cleaning procedures to ensure that the flowmeter is functioning correctly. However, regular maintenance and cleaning procedures are both time consuming and costly.

However, it is also likely that some oil and gas producers may not be aware of paraffin buildup issues in their electromagnetic flowmeters, especially if they do not have a comprehensive maintenance and monitoring program in place. In such cases, flowmeter errors may go undetected until they cause significant problems or downtimes.

South Texas Case

An oil and gas operator in south Texas was having to pull and clean its fouled meters every 60 days because it was unable to obtain a flow-rate reading from its meters.

Beginning in October 2021, the operator deployed what is now being commercially called the Aculon Measurement Integrity (AMI) treatment with distribution partner KopMan Industries to combat the paraffin buildup challenge on six of its electromagnetic flowmeters.

Flowmeters in production operations can be treated within 3 to 4 hours, per meter. New meters can be readily treated within an hour. There is no curing time or temperature requirement needed to treat these meters.

As a result of the AMI application, the operator was able to extend the time between maintenance of the meters from 60 to 540 days (i.e., 18 months) and counting.

Initially, the meters were physically inspected for fouling at 180 days and the electrodes were found to be free from paraffin deposition. The meters have not been pulled for maintenance due to fouling since, as the flow rates reported by the magnetic flowmeter have remained consistent with the operator’s daily volumes of produced water.

The AMI service consists of cleaning, preparing, and treating the surface of the magnetic flowmeter with omniphobic surface modification chemistries that repel both water and hydrocarbons. Aculon’s omniphobic chemistry is used to treat the ceramic or metallic electrodes and covalently bonds to the surface with a 2–5-nanometer-thick optically clear treatment.

The liner, typically composed of polytetrafluoroethylene, is treated with Aculon’s nano proof chemistry that is designed for nonmetal alloy surfaces. Such chemistry has been used outside of the oil and gas industry for over 2 decades.

Aculon has specialized in the synthesis and manufacturing of nano surface modification chemistries since the early 2000s and has developed more than 100 products to modify the surface energy of different types of substrates. In 2022, Aculon partnered with KopMan which had already been cleaning, prepping, and treating equipment using Aculon’s chemistry for 5 years and treated over 6,000 different pieces of equipment.

Together, the partners created AMI which was successfully used to extend the time between maintenance described here, six meters by a factor of nine. More operators are now beginning to allocate funding to the maintenance of the magnetic flowmeters to reduce the nonproductive time associated with the routine pulling and cleaning of magnetic flowmeters.

Since 2021, more than 250 electromagnetic flowmeters ranging from 2–10 in. in size have been treated with the AMI technology. Of the 250 meters treated, 200 were in produced water service that were pulled and cleaned in the field.

Today, there is less focus around the metering uncertainty of produced water as compared to hydrocarbons. However, this is changing as pressure mounts to ensure more accurate and reliable measurements of produced water in light of increasing handling and disposal costs, regulations, demand for recycling, and the need to improve leak detection. In summary, the field-proven AMI technology is capable of addressing these issues while improving long-term flow measurement performance.


Clay Wernli, CEO and founder of KopMan Industries, is an industry leader in regenerating used equipment with complex geometries to “white clean” and application of surface property modification treatments. Since 1991, he has been in the industrial cleaning industry for the refinery market. In 2014, he entered the specialty services market consulting with operators on solving challenges associated with organic elements, fouling, and other issues disrupting production services. He worked with Ohmstede Industrial Services and Ohmstead LTD on building their ONE program in the refinery market. He is a graduate of the AIU Business School.

Elizabeth Cambre, SPE, is the global business development manager of energy at Aculon. She has 15 years of oil and gas experience working with both inorganic and organic scaling issues at Schlumberger in operations and technical sales in Oman, Qatar, and UAE. She was a former hydraulic fracturing and acidizing instructor and product champion of new technology at Baker Hughes. Additionally, she was the director of production enhancement at Tendeka. She has authored nine SPE publications and is the former co-chair of the SPE International Hydraulic Fracturing Technical Committee. She holds degrees in chemical engineering, mathematics, economics, international affairs, and Chinese (magna cum laude honors) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.