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SOCRKJY OF PETROLEUMENGINEERS OF AIME

6300,North CentralExpressway -
=R SPE 8j5 \
Dallasj Texas

THIS 1S A PREPRINT --- SUBJECT TO CORRKTKCON

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.INJEc TION wATER TREATMENT. , ,

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STARTS IN THE PRODUCING WELLS

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?3enSloat$.MemberAIME$Calgon Corp., Tulsa, Okla.

ItiRODUCTION water so we are going to keep them separate-- A

neat trick -- the only trouble is that it can not
People and.industry need water. TO manu- be done. Even in a once through system where a
facture a ton of paper requires 2t400 bbl of single supply water is used for all injection
water. 180 bbl cxfwater are needed to make a requirementsand every barrel of produced water
ton of steel andp although we are not used to is disposed of separately) ~he supply well water
thinking of oil In tons, if we did, it would tae ~d the oxig~~al formation waker have plenty Of
70 bbl of waterto produce one ton of waterflood chance to mix in,the vicinity Of the producing
oil. Every living creature and plant on the face ,weJJs , Collectingthe return water andin.jetting
of the earth has to have water sad we humans will ,Lt into a few input wells out on one end oithe
.gathro~h two barrels of it every day. , pattern does not change conditions in very many o
%he producingwells at the tim$ of water break-
With worlciwater supply constant and world through. In f8ct, a split system forces water
water demaad increasingat an,alazming:atcit troubles to localize in the produc.lngwells where
is extremely important for every water consuper they are nvt only expen&!-ve to handle mechanical
to match quality with intendeduse. CertaiYLy but also have an importantbearing on oil
all of the water needed to make a ton of sieel production.
does not needto pass U.S. Eblic Health Standards ;
nor is pumping drinkingwater into the ground to FI!iIJCASE HISTORY
produce wa%erfJ.oodoil a good match of quality
and US~o Proceedingon the premise that there is no
easy way to design around produced water problems
Fortunatelyjwater floodinghas actually the next step before startinga flood is tohave
created a demand for b~d water. the various source waters analyzed,mixed in E+
proportions.withthe formationwater for mineral
D&bead of hav&ng a nasty salt water di6posa1 compatibilityantithenthoroughly ch,eckedfor ,
problem on its hands the oll industryhas a organic growths and bactexia.
challengingopportunityto turn a liability into
a profit. Thetechnologyrequired to process and Table 1 shows typical supplywaterand Red
reuse produce! water is nowat the point where Fork formationwater analyses for Creek Countyj
costs can be estimatedwith confidenceand profit Okla. floods. Fig. 1 was prepared using the
forecastshave real meaning. Aud sibce most chlcride~hardness an~ cal}ciumvalues Tor the twc
waterfloodproducingwells will lift ten times waters and then checked initiall$by actually
as much water as oil during their economic life analyzingkuoi?nmixtures of the two waters.
we can say with tongue in cheek that opportunity
is not only at hand but is overflowingon a few Hydrogen sulfidewa~ not found In any of the
projects. original formationwater Emples and was never
detectedinthe water suppl~ well.during three
Four major water qualityproblems associated years of regular monitoring. Nevertheless,a8
with reSnJectlngproduced water are discussed in water broke through to the producingwells
this paper. Mechanicaland ch~micalprocedures hydrogen sulfide started to Bhowup in bleeder
for defining each problem, correctingitend then mampLes,Fig. 2. As the pexcartage of supply
.rnonitoring water quality to guard against any well waterin %he produced fluidincreasedt so di
recurrenceof the trouble are presented. the hydrogen sulfide values. cultures for stzlfat
reducingbacteria set up from produced $?ater
-~SEFKSYSTEMM~ ~~ ---- ---- - s~ples wliichcontairied H&d&vel@xXi asmarryas
60 coloniesper milliliter. And again, neither
~owman~ tfnieshave you heard the statement the original formationwater nor the aupplywel.1
~n water ever culturedpositive fo,rsulfate reduc-
Referencesaridilluktratione @ end Qf PaPer. ing bacteria.
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,11,
u-
STARTS IN THE PRODUCINGW
ELLS SPE-87
4,

The unpredictableactlvityofsulfate filled up it had to be pum:>edover into.%he 1)000

reducing bacteriaand the damagingeffect of
their localizedprod.uctionof H.@ is not confined
to Red Fork floods. Similar conditionshave
developed in many Glen Sand floods of Tulsa
County SXIdDutcher Sand .Tloodsin Muskogee
COun%Y. !CabTe2 shows that even oxygek bearing
injectd.onwa%ercan show up in producingwells
with the original oxygdn replacedby 10 or 15 ppm
Of H2S.
barrql taak more often. L.ss settlingtime in th(
backwash pit meant more oil wet solids goirigto
the fi~t~r by way of the 1)000 barrel tank and
Boon the filter waBuselese. Oil wet solids thkn
moved to the inJec%3.onwells witihplugging,
corrosionand .tncreaEiedindectionpressuresthe
end result.
WHATTO DOA.BOGTOIL CARRYOVZR?

IV-ANTDESIGN The first step;ls to stay constantlyon the

lookoutfor oil in the injection system. Install.
The basic f16w diagramfor the waters in and keep an eye on wellhead filtiercartridges
Table 1 provided tor mixing Red Fork return water check for oil In the backwash water from conven-
from the.%riiaiier
wj.tih
supply water in a J.$OOO %ional filters> and inspect the media regularly.
barrel steel tankand then pumping from this tank Most importantof all, climb up and take a look
threugh a presstu, filter directly to the suction in the raw water and filteredwater.storagetanks
of the %iioH.P.P.s. To backwash the filter the and as goon as any traces of oil show up start
plant had to be shut doti. Backwashwater wa~ checkingback through the productng side of the
taken from the 1)000 barrel raw wa%er storage, system.
tank end dischargedinto an unlined pit. After a
little sun and fresh air plus occasionalrain the Most oil carryoverproblems can be corrected
Qater in the backwash pit was pumped back to the by a~~le mechanicalor design change.
1)000 barrel tank and reused aiong with the
return water and water from the supply well. All Siphons and partially open valves are no
piping in the system was bare steell.
with most trouble to fix once they have beetilocated. If
iaput wells taking water through the casing. an unexpected Increase In produced fluid volume
over loads existing otl-w.aterseparationequLp-
OIL CARRYOVER- TEE NUMSER 1 PROBLEM men%, shu+ in t,heblg water wells until more tank
or a IWKO can be set. A temporary drop in produc
Probablythe worst sin@.e problem associated tion has a way of alertingmanagement to the need
with the.reuse of produced water is oil carrying for some changes and in any eve~itis much better
over into the lnJection System- Among other and less expensivethan fouling the injection
things: system.

1. 011 collectson raw water storage tanicti The second ,atep,after making all the
with the resultingoil-water interface ideally mechanical and design changes necessaryto cu~
suited for bacterial growth and slime development. down on oil carryover, is $? see what can.be
2. Oil mixes with the water when storage done chemically. One of the first things to
tanks roll due to gas break out or sudden water check is the use of oil soluble -- water disper-
entry and.agglomerateseuapendedmaterfal. sable corrosionInhibitors. !Ihisis not to tinply
3. Oil wet solids and free oil foul Tilter that products in this category are not effective
media rapidly. Longer and more frequentback- corrosion inhibitors,butj it does mean that
washing is the immediateresult with chemical these products are supposedto catch and hold oil
cleaning or media replacementsoon to follow. in their dolecular strbcture. 2 If the weakly
k. Oil contributesto corrosionin the ,polar hydrophilic end happens to prefer @av-
injection system by Ioca&izingthe attack whether .tngalong with the free water phase to hanging on
due to bacterial action or agglomerate~kolids the rods and tubingl considerableoil carryover
such as iron sulfide which are cathodicto steel. into the injection system can result from the
5. Oil wet particles plug inJectionwells addition of just a few gallons a day of oil
and run up work-over expense because the oil has solublewater-dlspernableinhibitor. A better
to be removed before the conventionalacid treat- choi.cefor corrosioninhibition,at least in
ments a~e very ~ffective. those wells making appreciablewaterj would be a
highly polar completelywater dispensablematerie
In Ol&homaJ the Red Fork is fracturedand that tioesnot have any affinity for oil.
after a few months of water injectionone or two
produc%ngwells usually show a sharp increase In Recently developedhi.ghmolecul.ar weight
water ~roduction. This was the case on the flood polymers used primarily for coagulationgd pre-
In question and as the amount of fluid passing treatment of mixed brines are in many cases -
through the treater increased>oil carryingover effective ile-tiilers. Properlyatlaedto produced
totheraw water tank also increased.Oil Wet - -
sol%ds soonoverloadedand fouled the filter. Rnulsion breaking is noi coneidereahere since
that art usually deals with removing trace amount
Frequentbackwashingwith oily-unfilteredwater.
only made matters worse and as %hebackwashpit of water from the oilrather tharismall amouqts
of oil from the watex.
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PE-
---, m. BEN SLOAT
fluids at pQlnts of good mixing such as FWKOS)
skimmer teak inlets and troughs leading to
settlingp?.tsthis new class of water treating
chemicalswill improve oil-water separationand
also coagul.a+esolids so *hat they can be either
set%led out, floated off or filtered more
efficientlyfrom!thewa+er=
IRON
.-.>
Second onlyto oil carryover is the impoz%-
snce ofeither dissolvedorprecipitat&i iron in
*he return wa$er. Most of ~he formationwater
originallypresent in sand reservoirscontains
dissolved iron naturallyand water from any for-
mation will usually pick up iron on the way to
the surface during the never ending process of
corrodingproductionequipment. iron is a prob-
lem because:
1. Dissolvqd iron can be preclpitateclby
either.oqygenor chlorine in the form of red iron
oxide [Fe203].
2. Iron can be precipitatedin ~he form of
black ma~etic iron~xide [Fe304]by trace
amounts of oxygen.
3. Iron can be precipitatedin theform of
brown iron carbonate [Fe[C03]]in the Presence of
csrbon dioxide. The hydroscopicformof LrOn
carbonate is often the end tiroductof corrosive
carbon dioxide attack on bare steel.
4. ~ron.canbe precipitatedin the form of
black [nonuagnetic] irons
contactWt<h hydrogen ~ti.l~ideor by theupon
[FeSl action
of sulfate reducingbacterli.
Iron c%nbe precipitatedin.the form of
cltunp~ofred hydrated ferric oxide [Fe[OH]3]by
the action of iron bacteria, !.
pli changes>pressure drops -- practiical.ly
anything khich happens to produced water on the
way to the ~Jection side of the system has an
influenceon the ironequilibrium. Iron pre-
ci-pitates.
effectivelyplug inJectionwells, mete~
screens and filters. Oil wet iron sulfide is
practicallyimpossibleto baclniashfrom filters
and even more trouble to removed from InJection
wells. Iron sulfide Lb cathodic%0 steel end
when precipitatedcan often aggravate corrosion
by promoting the formationof pits in the snodi<
areas of the pipe.
WHAT TO DC)ABOUT IRON? - producingwel.lstit is also pos5ible to have
There are three ways to bring iron problems
under control.
Firs,t#and very importantIs to set up a
gooflcorrosion contrglprogrsm,forthe producing
wells. The object being to simply cut down on
the amount of iron which gets iwto the water in
the .fLrs%place. . .: ----
Second$is to blend return water back inth
the system so that as much iron as possible is
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precipitatedand either se%tled out in pits and
tanks or removed by illtration.Ideally$ open
system injectionwater should contain less than
0.1 @/l of dissolved Iron. In closed systems
the iron value a% the H.P.P. should be matched
out at the more remote I.W.s.
If thedissolved iron cotrbent of $he
finishedwa%er is more than:O.lmg/l and there is
still a tendency to form precipitatesafter the
filter> then the thirdstep of stabilizingtihe
dissolved iron should be taken. In the prenence
of oxygen or chlorine iron csn be efficiently
stabilized~y metaphosphate.3 IX the iron prec-
ipitating in the injection system is a result
of bacterial ar:tionthen the only course is to
kill Iihebacteria.
BAclEmA
Most experiencedwaterfloodoperatorsare on
the lookout for severe bacterialproblems any
time a produced brine is mixe$ with fresh or low
salinitywater for injection.~ Normal monitorin~
of the water going intothe ground is a must
under these conditions,although,in many systems
the problem first.showsup in the producing
wells at the= of water breakthrough.
Since most organic biocides require a com-
bination of lethal.dosage end contact time to be
effectivethe cost of treating iB dlrec%ly
proportionalto the amount of water to be-treatet
For exsmple, the treatment of mixed waters --
brine plus fresh water %s much more expensive
than treating theoffender separatelybefore
mixing. Similarly$if _the>roduced tiateris the
transporterof the organic growth load then
rather thqn treat it as tt enters the plant a
better . ),cewould be to select skveral of the
producingwells and treat them down hole.6
.
Early detection of 6 bacterial,p~oblemin
the producingwells, either by direct cllzures o~
in %he ca8e of sulfate reducersby II@ B.ndiron
measurementsmakes selectivetreatmentpractical<
In many systems a gallonof biocide added to a
differentproducingwell each day is of much mor(
benefit than five times this much added each day .-
to the mixed water at the plant.
In addition to.mineral incompatibilityin
serious chemicaltreatment incompatibilities.
Most effectivebiocidee sad corrosionic~ibitoxw
are cationt~in nature md react readily with
ani.onicssuch as the metaphosphatesused for
scale prevention. There is no way Iiochemiccliy
overcomethis t?undwentalincompatibiliky so the
only choice is to apply the orgaaics on as
infrequenta slug basis as possible and recognize
~hat @ring the=%ime the.COIIC@@JX%_kiOIL of.
cationic is hi&- the systei wLll not receiye &Y
scale protectionfrom the phasphate. Since most
of the newer organic corrosioninhibitorstreat
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LAW

the p%pe andno% the water thk chemical incom- question,rests with a strai&tforwara estimate of
pa%ib%l%ty is not as bad as it m%hti seem. Once what it.will cost to.properly conditionand
the i&ibitor has been transportedby the water process this produced water for +einJecticn.
to the metal andthe,surface has been effectively Some broad problem - cost guidelinesare as
coatedthe film persiktanceof th? inhibitor follows:
becomes the controllingfactor and in most cases
this film persistfwiceis no% alteredby the 1. Producingwellcorrosionproblems due to
continuousfeed of 6 ppm of metaphosphatencr- low pH or acid gas attack can be brought under
mally used for scale preventtoti. control for $1 a week for each 17000 ft of hole.
Wells producing from 2,000ft shouldreceivegood
SCALE FOR!YATIONIN PRODUCINGWELLS projection ~or $8 to $10 per month per well.
2. Producingwell bacterialproblemsj
!fhemost widely used material for scale properly dkzgnos~d$seldom cost more than $5 for
prevention in pxc?ducing wells is glassy phosphate every l)OOO,barrelsof water producedduring.the
usually in the form of a controlled solution rate required two to four week clean up period. Once
OP.self feeding phosphateti7To be ef.fectlvej under control the combination.ofreguiar monitor-
ph+phates must be fed continuouslywhich means ing andselectivechemical treatment usually droti!
that return water systems with most of the the total cost for both service &nd biocide to
producingwells treated for scale are going to less than $2 per 19000 BWPD. Recently developed
have UD to 10 mm ofmetaphosphatein the water solid biocides with self limiting solub.llity
as it &ters t~~ plant. ~pe~ding on the type propertiespromise,to reduce treating cost even
of system, this metaphosphatewill either re- fuz%her.
enforce the treatmenton the injection side or 3. Productngwell scale.problemscan be
be of no benefit. preven%ed by standard downhole treatmentwith a-
controlledsolubilltyphosphate at a cost of 42
In opes systems,the presence of phosphate in to $3 for every I.)OOO~PD* The new C.S.P. well-
the return water can affect cocigulation and bore packing technique costs about 25 per cent ..
filtra;ian. Normal procedure M toemploy a less than standard downhole treatment.
minimum treatment in the producing wells and
carry no more than 1 ppm of metaghosphatethrough WaterflO@ operators plagued wikh twc or
the pits to the filters, If the water after the even all three of.,theseproduced water problems
filters.is still unstable this is he@Xled by a can still correct them for much less than one.
supplementtim etaphosphate feed to the fil~er cent a barrel includingthe cmt of anY I@nksj
effluentto prevent scale buildap in %he injec- aeratorsJponds and filters which mitit be
tion system. neces&ary. On the other bend, neglectingproduce
wate???roblems and going tlieleak Clampj damage .,
Closed systems vitih,acaletrouble in *he claim, pulling uuit, .pump-tubing-roareplac ment
producingwelle only usually adopt stemdard down: route can cost from 5 to20 cents a barrel.f
hole treatmentwi%h a C.S.P. If.tlie scale prob-
lem is worse after the return water is mixed with In most cases the costof preparing produced
the supply waters then the treatment cd?Lnd%vidua water for reinductionIs less by far than the cos
producingwells is usually beefed up to take care of lifting sad treating a subsurfacesupply ox
of the suppiy.waterdi@tion factor or the puxchasfngwater outright from another operator.
supply well.itself is put on treatment.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
COSTS
This paper has pointed out that fo~ conunon
During the economic life ~f moat waterflood injectionwater treatment,problemscan get
producingwells the cost of lifting th& water started In ?he pZOdUCing wells. Oil carryover
which has to be pumped to the surface in order iron precipitating>bacterial,contaminationand
to get the oil ustiytakes $0.30 off the scale depositionin the injectionsi~e of the
selling price of every barrel of oil.. or looked system can often be controlledby properly blencl-
at another way] the cost of handling produced Ing Xetm water with supply water,andby chemica:
water-shrinksrecoverableoil in the resexvoirbY treatment of selectedproducingwells.
at least 10 per cent - thereis no way around *hi,
cost because it is as fixed as the power btll. I-. OKI.carryover CS.Uusually be prevented.
On the o+her hand)supply water .whetherpurcha?eil mechanically. Oil soluble-titerdf.spersable
outright or developed from subsurfacezones usu- corrosioninhibitorsaggravatetheproblem. High
ally costs the same or tiorethan the fixed molecularweight polymerslisedin corurentional
price of produced water. Three to five cents a ad Zn I*ne coagulationoften improve oil-waker
barrel for purchased or subsurfaceWatei?vs 3 separationin ski.rmnertanksand baffle ponds=
. -..
ceritb-
forproduced wirteti.~ A?idasince tliepro-
auced water is usually convenl.efrtly located and 2. D?On prec~pitation csn be controlledby:
already acquainted!with the resemoir why not An effective corrosion inhibitionprogram to
put it to work? Often)the answek to *his prevent iron from entertng the system and proger :,

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rgi-w IJ -.. -----

blendlng of return water wi%lieupply,water to take REFERENCES

maximum advantageof natural precipitatio~
reactions so bha% iron already in the water ean
be remove&. ~ Salt Wa%er.Disposal.
3. ~dividual producingwe~s are ideal for
selectiveand inexpensiveuse of a biocide.
Small wate.rvolumespermithigh dosage rates and
contacttime is usua~y sufficientto ki~.the
bacteria before the water is blend@ back into
the-system.
.
,.
k. Producingwell scale problems are ,:
usually treated with metaphosphatewhich in turn
affects coagulationand filtration. Recognizing
this effect and regulatingdosage ~evels so that
they are consistentwith plant design omd injec-
tion water treatmentpractice is imPotimte
5. !Checost of.preparing produced water.for 7. Sloat, Ben: contro~eas olubility
reinJect.ionis usually le8s tihanthe cast of
Mdt.ingmd treating a subsurfacesupply.
IX is the authors estimate that between now
end 1~70 the.Oil tidustry will have to make
decisions concerningreuse or disposal of pro-
duced water volumes amountingto twenty million
barrels a day. If even one ger cent of this
total goes astray, it would be enough to make all
thew@er in a r3ver the size of the Adomsas
unfit,forany but,the most margtnal fndustr~al
and humanneeds.
*
1. API - Division of Production: Subsurface
2. API and NationalAseocia_kion Qf Corrosion
Engineers: Corrosionof Oil and Gas Well
Equipment.
3. Hatcht G. B. Z@ Ralstonj P* H.: Controlof
Oxygen Corrosion in Flood Waters) Paper
presented.SouthCentral Regional Meeting
NACE, Oklahoma City, Okla. [Oct..16, 19631.
k: Eernardz Gee. C. and chamberlain,Henry L.:
%OWPH Controls Contsarinated Flood Waterer
Oiland~s ~our. [March} 19611 156.
5. Awtutz, RwW. and Reynoldsj L. C.: Engi-
neering Aspects of Waterflood %cteriology.
6. Baumgartner,A. W.t Doubie-BarreledAttack
on Microbial CsurosLonfj
Pet. Eng. [Nov.,
1963].
Phosphates~NewApplicationTechni~uesSimpli-
fy Scale Preventionin Waterfloods and
.
Producln:.:!ellsjPaper preeented California
Regionai Keetlng SPE of Amt Santa Barbara$
Calif. [Oct. 24, 19631.
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TA6LB #2
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(Ii,,tc, 5P..,,*4 la IIIIEIIX-* w au..) Lwchersandflood
NjIskosu
COUI)tY,
Oklshima

%F:tltian % 5UPP1Y Chlorid* Dlmolvad My&awI

onm
et water OH oxvm?n.
mm Sulf ide.

109 b .5 101,5W lb, mn IL, SW i

100 0 64,000 6 NMacive Nqwt We
11.5 a.0 92,CW 33,000 10,: w
9.m 40 60 24,$00 7A Ne6.atfvO 12
15 a.Q $1,%.a W,dw I
62.S 5d 76,9X 21,020 S,m n 65 21,000 7,5 Nesicfve 18
w sJ 66,C.W Z40wn 7,400
27 73 16,200 7!4 NwaCiVe NE@chIc
375 6.0 mm at,cw 6,4W
n 6.0 mom-l ls,cm 3.!44 17 83. 10,000 7.7 Negative 4
12.5 6,5 it,= 1*,x+ k, MO
0 100 boo 6,5 i 9.4 Hep.at
Me .
0 ?.0 M,* 10,w 3, q
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0. 15 _
a. \
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i , FIG. I - FIG. II
;
PERCENT SUPPLY WELL WATER PERCENT SUPPLY WELL wATE.~
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