Metrohm's ion chromatography systems effectively monitor ionic components, helping to keep pipes free of scale deposits when drilling, which prevents them from clogging up.
Produced water is water trapped in underground reservoir rocks brought to the surface along with the crude oil and gas.
Besides dispersed oil droplets and dissolved organic compounds, produced water contains significant amounts of inorganic cations such as calcium, magnesium, barium and strontium and anions such as carbonate, bromide and sulphate.
Precipitation of the corresponding salts often leads to the formation of scale deposits that can clog pipes.
This is why it is important to determine the inorganic constituents of produced water to choose the correct dosing of scale inhibitors.
While the anions bromide, sulfate, acetate and butyrate can reliably be determined by suppressed conductivity detection, the cations magnesium, barium and strontium are determined by non-suppressed conductivity detection.
IC is one of the most effective analytical techniques for determining ionic species.
