Influence of Interfacial Tension on Seeded Calcium Carbonate Scale Precipitation: Effect of Adsorbed Asphaltenes

Abstract

Clay particles with adsorbed asphaltenes, which are commonly found in produced water, have been used as seed particles during precipitation of calcium carbonate in order to determine whether such particles may influence the kinetics of precipitation. The results show that the presence of the adsorbed asphaltenes accelerates the precipitation, and there is also a significant difference between different types of adsorbed asphaltenes. The adsorption of asphaltenes at the seed surface leads to a significant increase in the interfacial tension between the seed surface and the aqueous solution, and calcium carbonate therefore precipitates at the seed surface in order to reduce this high interfacial tension.

Keywords:

• Heterogeneous nucleation
• mineral deposition
• petroleum production
• clay minerals
• contact angle
• asphaltene adsorption

SGS Vernolab in Longjumeau, France is acknowledged for performing the elemental analysis.