Comprehensive Utilization of Formation Water Scale to Prepare Controllable Size CaCO3 Nanoparticles: A New Method to Improve Oil Recovery

Formation water scale blocks pipelines and results in oil/gas production decreasing and energy consumption increasing. Many methods have been developed to inhibit scale formation. However, these previous methods are limited by their complications and low efficiency. A new method is proposed in this paper that uses the scale in formation water as a nanomaterial to improve oil recovery via controlling particle size. A series of ligands were synthesized and characterized. Micrometer-CaCO₃ was formed and accumulated to form scale of a large size under uncontrolled conditions. The tetradentate ligands (L⁴) exhibited an excellent capturing yield of Ca²⁺ (87%). The particle size was very small, but they accumulated to form large particles (approximately 1300 nm) in the presence of Na₂CO₃. The size of the CaCO₃ could be further controlled by poly(aspartic acid) to form sizes of about 700 nm. The flooding test showed that this material effectively improved oil recovery from 55.2% without nano CaCO₃ to 61.5% with nano CaCO₃. This paves a new pathway for the utilization of Ca²⁺ in formation water.