Browsing by Author "Kan, Amy"

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    A New Kinetic Assay Method for Effective Scale Inhibitor Concentration Determination with Low Detection Limit
    (SPE, 2022) Dai, Zhaoyi; Ko, Saebom; Wang, Xin; Dai, Chong; Paudyal, Samridhdi; Zhao, Yue; Li, Wei; Leschied, Cianna; Yao, Xuanzhu; Lu, Yi-Tsung; Kan, Amy; Tomson, Mason
    Scale inhibitors are widely used for mineral scale control in various industries, including oil and gas productions, geothermal energy acquisitions, and heat exchanger scale control to mention a few. In most applications, these scale inhibitors are effective at substoichiometric concentrations (e.g., 1 mg/L or lower), and the optimization of these applications is based on the ability to accurately measure the effective inhibitor concentration at such low concentrations. For example, the continuous treatment injection rate, the squeeze treatment frequency, or the batch treatment schedule need to be optimized to ensure the minimum inhibitor concentration (MIC) is achieved during production. However, the non- or low-phosphorous polymeric scale inhibitor concentration determination is difficult using inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-optic emission spectroscopy/mass spectrometry or ion chromatography, especially at mg/L level concentrations due to their high detection limits. The recently developed hyamine method or high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method involves intensive labor and high costs. Furthermore, in the complex oilfield operational conditions, the presence of other chemicals (e.g., surfactants, biocides, and corrosion inhibitors), the potential degradation of scale inhibitors and the use of combination scale inhibitors require the measurement of effective scale inhibitor concentration, which cannot be accomplished by the traditional methods. In this study, a new kinetic assay method has been developed to determine the effective scale inhibitor concentration with limits of detection (LODs) less than or around 0.1 mg/L for most cases. This method uses a continuous stirring tank reactor (CSTR) apparatus and is developed based on the linear correlation between the effective inhibition concentration and the measured critical time when laser signal changes. The results show that the inhibitor concentrations of various non- or low-phosphorous polymeric scale inhibitors in synthetic field brine, laboratory solutions, and real oilfield brines can be accurately determined at mg/L level, or lower, with less than 10% error. The method is robust, accurate, and much less time- or labor-consuming than other existing methods especially for non- or low-phosphorous polymeric scale inhibitors.
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    Nanocomposite oil sensors for downhole hydrocarbon detection
    (2016-06-28) Tour, James M.; Hwang, Chih-chau; Lu, Wei; Ruan, Gedeng; Tomson, Mason B.; Kan, Amy; Wang, Lu; Wong, Michael S.; Kini, Gautam; Hirasaki, George J.; Miller, Clarence; Rice University; United States Patent and Trademark Office
    Various embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to nanocomposites for detecting hydrocarbons in a geological structure. In some embodiments, the nanocomposites include: a core particle; a polymer associated with the core particle; a sulfur-based moiety associated with the polymer; and a releasable probe molecule associated with the core particle, where the releasable probe molecule is releasable from the core particle upon exposure to hydrocarbons. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of detecting hydrocarbons in a geological structure by utilizing the nanocomposites of the present disclosure.