An experimental study on high-pressure water jets for paraffin scale removal in partially blocked production tubings
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REVIEW PAPER-PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
An experimental study on high‑pressure water jets for paraffin scale removal in partially blocked production tubings Kabir H. Yar’Adua1 · Idoko J. John1 · Abubakar J. Abbas1 · Kazeem A. Lawal2 · Aisha Kabir3 Received: 19 July 2020 / Accepted: 19 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The common practice of using chemicals and solid-entrained liquids to remove soft scales in production tubings is associated with a high risk of contaminating the environment and eroding pipe internal surfaces. Due to the suspended solids, the current practices are also characterized by high pumping costs and are more problematic to rotating parts of machinery than freshwater. As a cheap and less risky alternative to these corrosive chemicals and liquids, this paper investigates the feasibility of utilizing multiple high-pressure (HP) water jets for the same objective. A total of 54 experimental trials were conducted to study the effects of four factors on the efficiency of scale removal with multiple flat-fan nozzles at an orientation of 25°. The factors investigated are (1) number of nozzles; (2) spray injection pressure; (3) stand-off distance between the spray nozzle and target scale; and (4) condition of the production tubing: ambient and pressurized. Details of the experimental set-up, equipment and procedure are provided. The results of these controlled experiments show a positive correlation between descaling efficiency and spray injection pressure. The same set of experiments reveals a negative correlation between descaling efficiency and nozzle count, as well as between descaling efficiency and spray stand-off. However, for the scale samples and range of parameters investigated in this study, descaling efficiency did not exhibit significant dependency on the chamber conditions, i.e. ambient versus pressurized. The results of this study provide some insights into the feasibility of multiple HP water jets as a cleaner alternative to the use of corrosive chemicals and solid-entrained liquids to remove soft scales in production tubings in oil fields and other applications. Keywords Flow assurance · Oil field descaling · Paraffin scales · Descaling efficiency · High-pressure water jets · Soft scales
Introduction
* Idoko J. John [email protected] Kabir H. Yar’Adua [email protected] Abubakar J. Abbas [email protected] Kazeem A. Lawal Kazeem.lawal@first‑epdc.com Aisha Kabir [email protected] 1
University of Salford, Manchester, UK
2
FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Ltd. (FIRST E&P), Lagos, Nigeria
3
Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria
The production and transportation of petroleum from subsurface reservoirs to end-users are accomplished with circular pipes, which include production tubings, pipelines similar process vessels (Mansoori et al. 2017; Nejad and Karimi 2017). However, it is not unusual for these conduits and conveyance systems to suffer flow restrictions resulting from solids depositions, as well as cor
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