SPE-15407-MS One site completion7workover fluid analaysis using a portable laser particle size counter

7/25/2019 SPE-15407-MS One site completion7workover fluid analaysis using a portable laser particle size counter

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Copyright 1986, Soci6ty of Petroleum Engineers

This paper waa prepared for presentation at the 61at Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Pelroledm Engineers held in New

Orleane, LA October 5-8, 1986.

Tfsis paper wae selected for presgnfation by an SPE Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submifled by .:9

author s . Contente of Ihe paper, as presenfad, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petrolaum Engineers and are eubject to correct ion by t ~

author e . The material, aapteaented, does not n;eessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, ita officers, or members. P@srs

presented

at

SPE meetings are subject to publication reviaw by Edilorial Committees of the Society ~f Petroleum Engineers. Permission to copy ie

reslriclad to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrafiona may not be copied. The abatract should contain conspicuous ackr,owledgment ot

where and by whom the paper ISpresented. Write Publications Manager, SPE, P.O. Box 833636, Richardson, TX 76083-3636. Telex, 730989 SPEDAL.

ABSTRACT detecti ng potenti al f ormati on damage associ ated w th

the sol i ds found i n the compl eti on/ workover fl ui ds.

The f requent use of cl ear br ines as complet i on/

workover fl ui ds has i ncre?sed the need for i mproved

Resul t s of l ab t est s, yar d t est s, and f i el d dat a

methods of sol i ds removal duri ng these operati ons.

have shown appl i cabi l i t y of t he l aser part i cl e

Studi es i n recent years, rel ati ng formati on damage

counter to anal yze cl ear brines on-site.

Scanning

w th pai -ti tl e si ze di s tr i but i on in complet i on/ el ect ron mcroscopy was used to determne the type

workover fl ui ds, magni fy the need to make the bri nes

of materi al passi ng through the fi l ters.

Compari son

as sol i ds- f ree as possibl e ( l - 8) . Thi s fact has led

of the f i el d and l ab tests has gi ven a better

the indust ry to re-examne the f i l t rat i on process on understanding of the l i mtat i ons of the cur rent l y

compl eti ons. avai l abl e fi l trat i on equi pment.

Presentl y, there are no methods commonl y used to

INTRODUCTION

determne the part i cl e si ze distribut ion i n f l ui ds

at the ri g si te.

On- si te measurements of sol i ds Fi l t rat i on of workover / complet i on f l uids i s used

general l y i nvol ve centr i f ugi ng a sampl e of f l ui d to

to mni mze the amount of format ion damage ( l - 8) .

determ ne the percent by vol ume of sol i ds or

I t has al so been suggested that the ef f i c i ency of

moni tori ng sol i ds content by turbi metri c methods. di spl aci ng di rty f lui ds w th cl ean f l ui ds i s a

The vol ume percent of sol i ds i s i mportant; however,

f unct i on of t he cl eanl i ness of the di spl aci ng

knowedge of t he parti cl e si ze di st ri buti on and f l ui d ( 9) .

popul ati on densi ty i s i mportant i n order to mni mze

formati on damage.

Tests can be run i n the

There is a real advantage to being able to moni tor

l abor ator y on sever al t ypes of i nst rument s t o howc l ean the f l ui d syst em i s on- si t e. The engi neer

determne par ti cl e si ze di st ri but i on, but t hese

i s abl e to get an accurate pi cture of what i s

represent af ter the fact data. happeni ng and therefore make ti mel y adj ustments, i f

necessary.

If the engi neer sends sampl es off for

I n other i ndustr ies, a smal l l aser particle counter

analysi s, an incorrect indi cat ion of the condi t i on

i s bei ng used to determne si ze di st ri but i on and

of the f l uids mght be obtai ned due to f l occul at ion

actual part i cl es per cubi c cent i met er i n cl ear or f ormat i on of sol i ds.

f l ui ds. The i nstrument i s i nterf aced w t h a PC

computer or hand-hel d cal cul ator to compute the si ze Several types

of i nstruments are avai l abl e t o

di st ri but i on and the popul at i on densi t y of t he

measure parti cle size di stri buti on.

These i ncl ude

part i cl es.

The i nstrument i s portabl e, preci se,

the Coul ter Counter, Granul ometer, and HI AC parti cl e

and practi cal for use i n the oi l f i el d. I t gi ves

anal yzer as wel l as others.

These i nstruments are

f i el d personnel an opportuni ty to check the sol i ds very preci se and accurate when used f or the

di st ri but i on of t he f l ui d goi ng i nt o the wel l and

appl i cati ons for whi ch the i nstruments were desi gned

the eff i ci ency of the f i l trat i on equi pment on-site.

and operated i n the proper envi ronment.

However,

The data obtai ned usi ng the l aser particle counter

the adaptabi l i ty of these instruments ?or use on a

together w th the reservoi r data i s a good means of dr i l l ing r ig or on a workover /complet ion o~erat ion

i s somewhat i mpracti cal .

Transportati on ~f the

i nstruments is di f f i cul t in most C3S-S due to

~r bul ki ness or del i cacy and operati on requi res a


2/8

9

L ON-SI TE COMPLETI ON/WORKOVER FLUI D ANALySI S USI NG A pORTABLE LASl i RPARTICLE SI ZE COUNTER

SPE 15407

fai rl y wel l -t rai ned person.

The l aser parti cle counter appears to hfi vevery good

preci s i on. Tests have shown that the channel to

Turbi di ty measurements are used cotnnonl yto provi de

channel reproducibi l i ty i s good even when the total

a qui ck measure of the relat i ve sol i ds content of

nl tmber of part i cl es per m l l i l i t er vari ed by an

f l ui ds on the ri g.

Thi s typ.? of measurement is order of magni tude at

low

concentr ati ons (13)0

usef ul ; however, i t i s very hard to correl ate

percent sol i ds or ppmsol i ds unl ess accompani ed by a

SMPLE PREPARATION

very accurate anal y~i s of the sol i cis (10). l

The sampl es were prepared by addi ng a smal l porti on

When workover/compl eti on f l ui ds ars f i l tered to

of the f l ui d to be anal yzed to a pre- f i l tered


3/8

I

si ze di stri buti on and the popul ati on densi ty of the

compar abl e t o a f l ui d passed t hr ough a 0, 5 ~m

sol i ds in the f i l tered f l ui ds.

absol ute

cartri dge f i l ter .

Repeti ti ve ci rcu-

l ati ons

through a f i l ter syst em contai ni ng a

The resul t s of one of t he yard test s ar e shown i n

cartr idge f i l ter pol i shi ng J ni t woul d he expected

Fi gures 3-7.

As can be seen, the sampl e caught

due to the bui ldup of a f i l ter cake on the cartri dge

i nmnedi atel yaft el - the DE Fi l ter shows approxi matel y

fi l ters.

5%of the part i cl es greater than 10~m in size. The

average appears to be about 3~m It should al so be Tests have shown that the portable laser part i cle

noted that t her e ar e no par ti cl es b?l ow the 2 ~m

counter i s a useful i nstrument for moni tori ng fl ui d

si ze.

Thi s i s attri buted to coi nci de~ce occurri ng

fromthe l arger particles. One pass through a 2~m

qual i ty in an ef fort to mni mze format ion damage

resul ti ng

from entrai ned

sol i ds i n workover l

absol ute

car tr i dge f i l t er produced the resul t s

compl etion f l ui ds. The i nstrument i s easy and fast

shown in Figure 4.

Se; er al passes of t he f l ui d

to operate on l ocati on and provi des preci se,

through a 0.5 fi mabsol ute c~ri , ri dgefi l ter yi el d

accur at e data on par ti cl e si ze di st ri but i on and

a f luid sample w th the part{cle ize distribut ions

popul ati on densi ty,

shown i n Fi gures 5-7.

Tabl e I gi ves the popul ai i m

density represented by Fi gures 5-7.

Th: se resul ts CONCLUSI ONS

indi cate that af ter the second pass through the

0.5~n f i l ter , the pal t i cl e si ze di s tr i but i on of the

Based upon l aboratory and f i el + resul t s, the

f l uid did not change substant ial l y; however , the

fol l ow ng c,bsenvati onsand concl usi ons can be made:

populat i on densi ty i s decreased

Thi s dat a

i l l ust rat es t he i nst rument w l l i ndi cat e hen a

1) A portabl e l aser part i cl e counter and data

f luid contains large and smal l part i cl es, but

will

handl i ng system has been developed which is

not provi de accuri t e data about smal l parti cl es appl i cabl e t o use i n the f i el d.

unti l most of t he l arge parti cl es are out of the

syst em Thi s i s acceptabl e f or t he eval uat i on of

2) The por tabl e l aser counter i s easy to use and

fi l trati on equi pment since the fl ui d downstream from

provi des accurata data. The i nstrument provi des

the cartr idge f i l ters shoul d contai n very few l arge

parti cle

si ze di s tr i but i on

and popul ati on

parti cles i f the equi pment i s worki ng correctly.

density for the fl ui ds anal yzed.

SEM anal ysi s of some of the sol i ds i n the f l ui d

3) The concent rat i on of the par ti c l es in the f l uid

comng out of the DE uni t was perfomed to ident i fy

to be analyzed must be below 999 counts/ cc,

the type of par ti c l es causing the coincidence to

and the sampl es must have an opacity of 530% to

occur i n the fi l tered sampl es.

Fi gure 8 shows that

assure preci se anal ysi s. A gi ven sampl e can be

most of the materi al was di atomaceous earth.

The

di l uted i n order to achi eve the requi red concen-

fact that DE bl eeds from the DE presses has been

t rat i ons of par ti cl es t o f aci l i t at e the use of

subst ant i at ed i n thi s st udy and by many other s

the portabl e counter.

(18) .

These resul ts conf i rm the need f or a

pol i shing uni t in ser ies af ter the DE f i l ter press.

4) Eval uat i on of DE f i l ter systems i n the f i el d

i ndi cates that mul t i pl e passes of a cl ean f l ui d

Fi gure 9 i s t he anal ysi s of a compl et i on f l ui d f rom through t he syst em decrease t he popul at i on

offshore Loui si ana caught i mmedi atel y after a DE

densi ty but not the part i cl e si ze distribut ion

f i l ter to determne i f DE was bleeding through the

in the f l uid.

DE fi l ter cake. The resul ts show a preponderance of

l arge parti cl es and the absence of smal l parti cl es,

ACKNOHLE06ENENTS

i ndi cati ve of a di rty f l ui d contai ni ng a l arge

amount of l arge particles causi ng coi nci dence. I n

We thank ARCO Oi l and Gas Company for the permssi on

thi s case, the laser par ti c l e counter shows that

to publ i sh thi s paper. We al so thank Mr. Gary Whi te

even t hough t he compl et i on f l ui d was f i l t ered

for hi s i nvaluable assi s tance in inter facing the

through a DE f i l ter press, the absence of a

i nstrumentati on and prepari ng the software for the

pol i shi ng uni t after the press woul d al l ow a di rty

system

f luid to be used in the wel l .

Figure 1 i s the anal ysi s of a compl et ion f l uid f rom

offshore Texas, circlJ l atedseveral ti mes through a

DE f i l t er press and a 2 m absol ut e cart ri dge

f i l ter. The f l ui d had been ci rcul ated several

t i mes.

The laser part i cl e counter shows that the

cont inued ci r culat i on of the complet i on

f l ui d

thr ough the f i l t er syst em produced a f l ui d wth

a parti cle si ze di stri buti on and popul ati on densi ty


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4

ON-SITE COMPLETI ON/ kl ORKOVERFLUI D ANALYSIS USING A poRTABLE LASER PARTICLE SI ZE COUNTER

SPE 15407

REFERENCES

1

2:

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10

11

12)

13)

Davi dson, O. H. ,

I nvasion and Impai rment of

Formati ons by Parti cul ate, SPE 8210, presented

at the 54th Fal l Meet ing of SPE, Sept . 23-26,

1979, Las Vegas, Neva2a.

Grues )eck, C. and Col l i ns, R. E. , Entrai nment

and Deposi t i on of Fi ne part i cl es i n porous

Medi a,

SPE 8430, presented at 54th Fal l Meeti ng

of SPE, Sept. 23-26, 1979, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ab i ns, A. , Mud Desi gn to M ni mze Rock

Imp. rment Due to Particle Invasi or~, Jour. of

Pei r, Engr. , May, 1977, 586-592.

J or dan, C. A. et al . ,

The Bay Marchand Pressure

Mai ntenance Proj ecc Uni que Chal l enges of an

Offshore Sea Water I nj ection System, J our. o :

petr. Tech. , Apri l , 1969, 389-396.

Barkman, J. H. and Davi dsrx. P. H. , Measuring

Water Qual i ty and Predi cti ng Wel l I mpai rment,

J our. of Petr. Tech. , Jul y, 1972, 865-873.

T~dd, A. C. , Somervi l l e, J . E. ,

and

Scott ,

Graham The Appl i cat i on of Depth of

Formati on Damage Measurements i n Predi cti ng

W@er I nj ectivi ty Decli ne, SPE 12498 presenteri

at the Formati on Damage Symposi um Bakersf i el d,

Cal i f. , Feb. 13-14, 1984.

Hashem , R, Er shaghl , I . , and Amner er , N. ,

Proper Fi l trati on ?l i ni mzesFormati on Oamage,

Oi l & Gas J ournal , Aug. 13, 1984, 123-126.

Ershag~{, I . , Hashem, R. , Caothien, S. C. , and

Adbassa , D. , I nj ecti vi ty Losses Under Parti cle

Cake Bui l dup and Parti cle I nvasion, SPE 15073

presented at

the 56th Cal i f or ni a Regi onal

Meeti ng, Oakl and, Cal i f. , Apri l 2-4, 1986.

Hashem, R.

and Caot hi en, S. , 8enef i t s of

Sol i ds Fi l trati on Eval uated, Oi l & Gas J ournal ,

J an. 27, 1986, 109-114.

Wadel , F. L. , Powel l , J . W, Haagensen, R. , and

Poch, H. F. ,

Particles i n Oi l Fi l es Workover

and

Compl eti on Fl ui ds,

presented at the

I nternati onal

Conventi on of

Fine

Parti cl e

Society, Mam Beach, Fl a. , May, 1985.

Me, G. ,

Ann. Phys., 25, 377, 1908.

Jobst, G. ,

Ann. Phys., 78, 157, 1925.

Cl ayton, Z. A. ,

Part i cle-Size Anal ysis of

Si l ts,

unpubl i shed paper , Dept . of Mar ine

Science, Uni versit y of South Fl ori da.

14

15

16

17

18)

Ul l r i ch, O. A. ,

Si ze Anal ysi s of Fi ne Parti cles

and

Resul ts

Obtai ned

w th an

El ectri cal

Sensi ng- Zone

Parti cl e

Anal yzer,

presented

before the I nstrument Society of Ameri ca Conf. ,

New York, N. Y. , Sept. 26, 1940.

Grens, J . ,

Prel i mnary Tests Usfng a Laser

Parti cl e-Si ze Anal yzer on Geothermal Bri ne,

Government Publ i cati on UI I I C 17637, Lawrence

Liv~rmore Laboratory, Nov. 18, 1977.

Bi erl ei n, J . A. ,

Particle-Si ze Anal ysi s of

Engi ne Oi l s, Tech. Report AFML-TR- 79-4215, Ai r

Force Materi al s Lab, J an. , 1979.

Whi te, G. , HP-41 Data Anal ysi s System for the

Spectrex

Laser Part i cle Counter,

I n- house

Communi cati on, P?CO Oi l and Gas, May 28, 1986.

Barren. W C. . founq, J . A. , and Munson. R. E. .

New ConceptLHi gh -Densi ty- Bri ne Fi i trati o~

l J ti l i zi ng a

Di atomaceous

Ear th Fi l t rat i on

Syst em. SPE 10648, present ed at t he SPE

Symposi um Lafayett e, La. , March 24- 25, 1982.

TA8LE I

POPULATION DENSITY OF FLUI D THROUGH

~m A8SOLUTECARTRI DG

E FI LTER

PASS

POPULATION DENSITY

(CTS/ UNI T TIME)

1

187, 000

2

68, 000

4

55, 000


5/8

SECONDARY

LENS

BOTTLE

SP 51L(). 7

PHOTO DETECTOR

/ . . . . - /

AND ELECTRONI CS

PRI SM

I LLUMNATE

BUTTON

BEAM SPL17TER

THRESHOLD

AND BEAM

STRE. . J GTH

MONI TOR

E1 l l NG DI AL

COUNT

BUTTON

-d

1

11

SCANNER

- J

4A-

1

= MRROR

~

I ASER TUbE

Fi gure1. SPECTREX I L1- 1OOLASER PARTICLE COUNTER

@OCTOR TC-1OO COMPUTER

W/ A/D WNVEKIER

CABLE TO

RS-232 CABLE

SPECTREX

HP lL/RS 232

INTERFACE

HP PRINTER

ii

HP-41CX WITH HP-IL MODULE,

EXTENDED MEMORY MODULE,

AND EXTENDED 1/0 MODULE

~ 2

HP41CX DATA SYSTEM


6/8

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20

PAFmCLE SIZE (pm)

F@Lre3. E hun DE PRES3

55

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10 15

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PARTICLE SIZE (IL m)

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PM AR50LUTF cafMdoo Wbr

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PARTtCLEWE (R

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PARTICLESIZE (Wm)


7/8

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WE 1540. 7

5

10 15 20

PARTICLE SIZE (~ m

Fqwe 7. EWenf from thkd pass tfmugh OS pm ABSC)LWP carMdoe ffifar

FfGURE 8. SEM

analysis of solids from DE FI LTER PRESS


8/8

SPE 15407

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PARTICLE SIZE (pm)

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Documents

SPE-15407-MS One site completion7workover fluid analaysis using a portable laser particle size counter