American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2019 - 93

are seeing production improvements that
should deliver a positive ROI with effects
lasting five or six months."
Other ongoing field trials involve unconventional wells. "In one, we are adding
the enzyme to the fracturing fluid to see
whether it will slow the decline rate,"
Gentry details. "In another, we are injecting
the enzyme into two older unconventional
wells to release the oil stranded in the
existing fractures."
Although it was invented by a Texas
A&M graduate, the enzyme primarily
has been used overseas, where Gentry
says it has a 10-year track record with
national oil companies. In the two years
since MadMackenzie became the U.S.
distributor, it has been applied to 30 U.S.
wells, with about two dozen more coming
before year's end, Gentry says.
"We also are exploring surface applications," he reports. "At its heart, the
technology is an oil separator that mobilizes oil from other surfaces. It has been
used to clean storage tanks and railcars,
and is able to clean drill cuttings, soil
and pipelines."
Static Mixing
How well chemicals mix with the
fluid they are supposed to treat has a significant impact on their effectiveness,
says Paul Tarmann of Tellerus Corporation.
"The amount of mixing relates directly
to the turbulence inside the pipe where
the chemical is being injected. Using traditional ports only allows inefficient mixing contact, if any mix occurs at all,
within the stream," he reports.
To accelerate chemicals' dispersion,
Tarmann recommends Tellerus static mixers. "Our mixers use baffles and mixing
vanes inside the pipe to cause the flow to
tumble and churn," he illustrates. "Generally,
the mixers are two to eight feet long. By
the time the fluid gets to the end, the
chemical is dispersed evenly throughout."
According to Tarmann, static mixing

has a long track record in other industries.
"It is newer to oil and gas, but the results
so far have been impressive," he says.
"In most applications, static mixing can
reduce chemical consumption 40%-80%
by making the chemical more effective."
One of the most common uses involves
production line emulsion breakers. "Because
the static mixer allows the breakers to
treat the fluid coming from the wellhead
more quickly, operators are frequently
able to reduce flowline pressures," Tarmann relates. "In the Williston Basin, an
operator reduced emulsion breaker demand
80%, saw a 35% drop in flowline pressure,
and increased production five-six barrels
a day."
In that field trial, Tarmann says, the
Tellerus mixer paid for itself in 90 days.
"For emulsion breaker application, payback generally occurs in 90-120 days,
but occasionally takes five or six months,"
he calculates.
In Central Montana, an operator with
high-water-cut stripper wells uses the
company's static mixers and produced
water to deliver scale and corrosion inhibitors down hole, Tarmann reports.
"Before installing the mixers, the operator
needed to replace each well's electric
submersible pump every three or four
years," he recalls. "Ten years have passed
since the installations. Only one pump
has failed, and it lasted six years."
Static chemical mixing also is helping
operators in Montana and Wyoming clarify
water to meet surface discharge standards,
Tarmann says. In North Dakota, he adds,
it is being applied to gas lift wells on
multiwell pads to enhance hydrogen
sulfide scavengers.
"We are only beginning to explore
the potential applications," Tarmann affirms. "In the near term, we hope to see
our mixers applied to friction reducers
used inside pipelines, to the biocides that
treat drilling fluids and to paraffin inhibitors."
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For chemicals to be as effective as possible, they need to spread throughout the liquid
that carries them. By using baffles and vanes to accelerate that dispersion, Tellerus Corp.
says its static mixers unleash chemicals' potential, enabling them to work even at much
lower dosage rates.

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2019

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