Mechanistic Investigation of Adsorption Behavior of Two Scale Inhibitors on Carbonate Formations for Application in Squeeze Treatments

Understanding the mechanisms of scale inhibitor (SI) retention in carbonate formations is key to designing efficient SI “squeeze” treatments in oil reservoirs. By performing “apparent adsorption” experiments, this paper demonstrates that a coupled adsorption/precipitation (Γ/Π) retention mechanism dominates in calcite and limestone for two widely applied scale inhibitors, DETPMP and PPCA. Precipitation was a more dominant retention mechanism at...