Scale Deposits in Porous Media and Their Removal by Edta Injection

Formation damage has been observed in several oil reservoirs and production equipment in Iranian oil fields. Laboratory and field testing confirmed that the primary cause of damage was the build-up of calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate and strontium sulfate scale either in the perforation tunnels or in the formation sandstone nears the wellbore. Conventional acid treatments could dissolve this scale, but scale precipitation from the spent acid caused rapid productivity decline. A scale removal treatment with Na2H2EDTA has been developed that can effectively dissolve scale and chelate the dissolved metal ions. Chelation of the dissolved scale prevents scale reprecipitation. This study describes the results of an experimental and theoretical study on the removal of formation damage resulting from scale formation in porous media. An experimental investigation was undertaken to look into the possible causes of the injectivity loss in a typical Iranian oilfield. Sets of experimental investigations were undertaken with different objectives in mind. Glass and sand bead packs were used to test the experimental set up and to observe the general behaviour of scale formation and removal by ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) to determine its possible effects on the permeability of the porous medium.