Bony Budiman

OILFIELD DEFOAMER
BONY BUDIMAN
2021
Bony Budiman

COMMON QUESTION

• What is foaming, and what is the effect in the oil

and gas field ?
• What is defoamer?
• How to apply defoamer?
• Field cases !
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION
• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

OBJECTIVE

• Refresh simple definition of foaming at oil and gas field

• Sharing effect of foaming at oil field
• Sharing defoamer mechanism
• Sharing some field cases
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION
• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
 Bony Budiman

DEFINITION OF FOAMING

• Foam is a gas dispersion in a liquid or solid continuous

GAS
phase
• Three process steps for foam formation:
 Air has to be injected into the liquid (e.g. using a mixer or
by self mixing)
 Large air bubbles have to be broken up into smaller bubbles
 The smaller bubbles have to be prevented from fusing
during the formation of a foam
Bony Budiman

FOAM IN OIL AND GAS FIELD

• Foam is a small bubbles of gas surrounded with a thin film of oil

• Foam exists in the gas oil interface when separator pressure decreases, or because of the
surface tension, viscosity, and some impurities (surfactant).
• When gas is liberated, small droplets are generated, these droplets are covered with oil
• In general; the quick motion inside the separator will cause foaming, this foam will cover
the fluid surface and prevent gas from escaping
Bony Budiman

SOURCES OF FOAMING

• Pressure reduction.
• Dissolved Gases.
• Mixing and Agitation.
• Rapid Heating.
• Spraying.
• Surfactants.
• Solids.
• Combinations.
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PROBLEM OF FOAMING

• Separation problem :
• Oil/condensate carry-over in the gas outlet
• Gas carry-under in the oil/condensate outlet
• Reduce the Capacity of Separator.
• Reduce Pump Efficiency.
• Fouling of Gas Flares.
• Cause Excessive Furnace Coking.
• Disrupt Oil & Gas Metering.
• Plant Shutdowns.
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SEPARATION PROBLEM

A
• At picture A, the liquid contain crude oil and gas separated
in the two phase separator. The gas come out in the top
while the crude oil in the bottom of separator
• At picture B, foaming was formed. Foaming cause higher
turbulence (compare to Picture A) in the separator. Out
gas outlet, the gas come out along with light hydrocarbon
B
while at crude oil outlet the crude oil has higher pressure
since some portion of gas not fully separated.
 Bony Budiman

REDUCE THE CAPACITY OF SEPARATOR

• Foamy crude reduces the separator volume

because it occupies a lot of space, this will
affect the oil gas separator efficiency by
reducing the retention time, unless the it is
designed to treat foamy crude
• The foam density is between oil and gas
density, and that will confuse the level
controller.

Courtesy picture : https://www.arab-oil-naturalgas.com/foam-in-oil-gas-separators/

Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION

• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION
• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
 MONITORING AND INDICATION OF OIL FOAMING

Courtesy picture : https://eua-bca.amap.no/gas-flaring

Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION
• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

TREATMENT METHOD

• Multistage Pressure Separation : to avoid high pressure drop the fluid shall go through
multistage pressure separator from high to medium then low pressure separator.
• Chemical
• Dosage optimization chemicals that contain surfactant (such as Corrosion Inhibitor and
Biocide)
• Use antifoam/Defoamer
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION
• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

DEFINITION OF DEFOAMER

• Technically defoamer and antifoam are

interchangeably, but originally they have
own definition.
• Defoamer is nn agent that which spreads
over the gas liquid interface leading to
bubble rupture.
• Antifoam is a surface active agent that
interferes with the foam stabilization
properties of the natural surfactant to
reduce the stability of the system.
 Bony Budiman

MECHANISM OF DEFOAMER

• Defoamer works by lowering the

surface tension between gas and liquid
• Defoamer "replaces" the surfactant
position at the gas-liquid surface
boundary so that the gas molecules will
escape from the liquid and then
combine with fellow gas molecules and
Defoamer then separate from the liquid phase.
Surfactant

Courtesy picture : https://www.uniqchem.com/defoaming-technology/

Bony Budiman

TYPE OF DEFOAMER

• Silicone : the most effective defomer, the dosage could be as

low as < 10 ppm. Silicones are nontoxic but poorly
biodegradable. Silicone may has issue to create deposit at high
temperature process.
• Polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS)
• Fluorosilicone

• Non-Silicone : have no issue with deposit at high temperature

PDMS process but less effective (the dosage could be more than 20
ppm)
• Polyglycol
• Polyether
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DEFOAMER APPLICATION

• Continues with dose 1- 10 ppm based on crude volume

Continues injection is the most common application. Injected before the foam
found. Usually inlet of separator
• Batching with dose 10-50 ppm based on crude volume.
Injected if foam is not common problem or when the foam suddenly increase.
Injected at place where the foam found or before the foam found. Shall be
careful of overtreat effect.
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LABORATORY SELECTION

• Bottle Test
• Modified ASTM D-892
• Pressure Test
 BOTTLE TEST

• This test method is very simple, only involve hand

agitation and atmospheric gas
• The procedure are :
• Pour 50 ml liquid to the measured capped cylinder
• Heated at minimum 30 minutes
• Hard shake by hand minimum 2 minutes
• Measure the formed foam
• Observe time required for collapsed foam.
• The test may be repeated by add the defoamer before
shaking and compare the formed foam and collapse
time with the blank sample

Courtesy picture : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6648748/ Video Antifoam Test

Bony Budiman

MODIFIED ASTM D-892

• A known volume of liquid is filled in the glass

cylinder,
• Gas flowing through the sinter causes the liquid
to foam.
• The foam height can be directly read on the
cylinder wall.
• Defoamer can be added on the top of the foam,
and the response is observed.
• We could arrange the temperature but not the
pressure..
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PRESSURE TEST

• The set-up consists of three main vessels: the insulated

and heat traced gas solvent reactor, the CO2-reservoir
and the reservoir for inert gas (e g. N2 or CH4).
• We could observe and monitor foaming as well as the
impact from defoamers on the gas-solvent flow
behavior.
• Parameter monitoring : foam height and collapse time
• Physical control : gas flow rate, pressure, temperature,
defoamer dosage.
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OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION

• FIELD CASES
• SUMMARY
 Bony Budiman

1. DEFOAMER FOR TRUCKING CRUDE OIL

• The crude oil from Tanggo Wells

Antifoam
Antifoam

Antifoam

Antifoam

Antifoam

Antifoam

Antifoam
delivered to Golden Station bu trucks.
PPD

PPD

PPD

PPD

PPD

PPD

PPD
• The crude temporary stored at 4 tanks.
TNG #02 TNG #05 TNG #10 TNG #09 TNG #13 TNG #18 TNG #21
The crude become foaming after passed
the separator, it cause decrease of
effective volume at square tank and at
Test
Flare Flare truck
Separator

Square Tank 1 • Without antifoam, average loading time is

Header Square Tank 2
> 1 minute/truck. After inject defoamer at
Separator
Scrubber drum Square Tank 3
dosage 10 ppm, the loading time is 25 –
Trucking to
Golden
Station
30 seconds/truck
Square Tank 4

Square Tank 5
 Bony Budiman

2. DEFOAMING AGENTS FOR INCREASED OIL

PRODUCTION
• East Velma field, located in southern Oklahoma
• Gross operated production in mid of 1963 is 7,850 BOPD and expect to increase in the following years. .
Relatively large investments were made for various types of lift equipment, including beam pumping units,
hydraulic pumping equipment, and electric submersible pumps. pumping equipment, and electric
submersible pumps. In certain cases, the equipment failed to pump larger volumes of crude, and monitoring
data indicated substantial fluid levels above the pump
• After several research, foam was found as one of the root cause
• In late 1967, in an effort to lower pumping fluid levels by depressing foam columns, defoaming agents were
first tried in the East Velma field. The objective was to either verify or eliminate the image of high working
fluid levels
• In late of 1969 the production recorded as 20,710 BOP
 Bony Budiman

3. TROUBLESHOOTING AMINE TREATING FOAMING

• A major gas facility was experiencing severe but intermittent foaming episodes in the
regenerator column; in one instance, foaming was so severe that close to 20 m3 of amine
was ejected from the unit through the acid gas vent stack.
• Antifoam appeared to work well the first time it was injected, but then it seemed to be
effective only every 8–10 doses.
• Root cause : the operator blend antifoam in water 30 times from the recommended
rate, the antifoam will not “blend” with the water but will rather float to the top of the
shot pot tank as illustrated in the left picture.
• The fix was simple. 3 parts antifoam was diluted in 1 part of water, as a more
concentrated product, into the amine system. This new strategy made every dose an
effective dose.

Courtesy Picture : http://www.gasprocessingnews.com/features/201908/case-studies-of-troubleshooting-amine-treating-foaming%E2%80%94part-2.aspx

Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• MONITORING
• TREATMENT METHOD
• DEFOAMER APPLICATION

• FIELD CASES

• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

SUMMARY

• Foaming is an issue in oil and gas since it cause problem especially in

separation process.
• Defoamer is chemical that used to reduce the foam problem
• Some issue in application of defoamer are dosage (shall not be overtreat),
type of defoamer (silicone base defoamer may not suitable for high
temperature process).
Bony Budiman

REFERENCES

• https://www.slideshare.net/akarim717/foam-24926136
• https://www.arab-oil-naturalgas.com/foam-in-oil-gas-separators/
• Oilfield Production Chemicals and Microbilogy, HTS, Consultant, 2007
• http://hemol.mk/images/Defoaming%20Agents%20for%20Increased%20Oil%20Production
.pdf
• Production Chemicals for the Oil and Gas Industry, 2nd Edition, Malcolm A. Kelland, CRC
Press, 2014
• http://www.gasprocessingnews.com/features/201908/case-studies-of-troubleshooting-
amine-treating-foaming%E2%80%94part-2.aspx