The fate of phosphonate inhibitors in oil and gas reservoirs: Validation of the SqueezeSoft(TM) computer program

The deposition of material that has precipitated out of solution can cause problems that plague a variety of engineering and biological processes. Scale formation in cooling towers, boilers, and oil/gas operations are prevented with chemical inhibitors such as nitrilotris (methylene phosphonic acid). The release of this phosphonate from solid material is studied with batch and dynamic flow experiments. The corresponding observations can be incorporated into SqueezeSoft™, a computer program, written by the Rice University Brine Chemistry Consortium. This work attempts to examine SqueezeSoft™'s ability to identify the placement of inhibitor during a squeeze treatment and the corresponding reactions that occur. SqueezeSoft™ has been found to correctly predict the profile of inhibitor injected into a column packed with core material. Because this program is based on theory and not on empirical findings, it can be expanded to other more general applications.