Workflow of asphaltene inhibitor selecting tests

Abstract

Asphaltene inhibitor （AI） is widely used to mitigate and/or prevent asphaltene deposition problems in reservoir, tubing and surface facilities. Many types of commercial AIs are available. To select suitable AI is a key to success of asphaltene mitigation. Currently, asphaltene dispersancy test （ADT） under ambient condition has been widely applied as a standard procedure of AI screening. However, more practical screening tests at the operating conditions are required. In this paper, a new workflow of selecting proper AI is introduced, consisting of “compatibility testing”, “dynamic asphaltene inhibitor tests （DAIT）”, core flooding test, evaluation for squeeze lifetimes on the basis of core flooding test and so on. Those series of tests consider with actual operation condition.