Several types of fluids are used to remove the heavy organic deposits precipitated along the wellbore, the gravel pack, the screen, or other equipment for processing the subterranean formation.

The effects of solvent type, temperature and additives on the solubility of the aggregated asphaltene particles were investigated. For the same solvent, the quantitative behavior of the solubility with temperature were similar, displaying an increase in the solubility at higher temperatures. To identify the effectiveness of solvent type and additives to dissolve asphaltenes, various aromatic, aliphatic, heteroatom and surfactant based solvents were used. It was found that heteroatom, surfactants and hydrogen donor compounds increased the solubility by a moderate degree, whereas aromatics increased the solubility by the highest degree. Aromatic solvents such as xylene are not faveroed during asphaltene removal treatments because of low flash point.

Keywords:
scale remediation, paraffin remediation, Hydrate Remediation, flow assurance, oilfield chemistry, Production Chemistry, Upstream Oil & Gas, hydrate inhibition, asphaltene inhibition, structure-solubility correlation
Subjects:
Production Chemistry, Metallurgy and Biology, Flow Assurance, Inhibition and remediation of hydrates, scale, paraffin / wax and asphaltene, Precipitates (paraffin, asphaltenes, etc.)
Copyright 2018, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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