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US-12623935-B2 - Produced water antifoulant compositions and methods

US12623935B2US 12623935 B2US12623935 B2US 12623935B2US-12623935-B2

Abstract

A water treatment composition is disclosed herein comprising a nonylphenol resin and a polyethoxylated tallow amine.

Inventors

  • Dingzheng Yang
  • Ali Faghihnejad
  • Song Gao

Assignees

  • CHAMPIONX LLC

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20230921

Claims (11)

  1. 1 . A water treatment composition comprising: a nonylphenol resin; and a polyethoxylated tallow amine, wherein the nonylphenol resin comprises a structure: wherein x=5-6; y=6 or 9; and z=0 or 1; and wherein the polyethoxylated tallow amine comprises an ethyoxylated, dodecyl benzenesulfonate tallow amine salt.
  2. 2 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nonylphenol resin comprises ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, or a combination thereof.
  3. 3 . A water treatment composition for an oilfield application, the composition comprising an oxyalkylated resin having a molecular structure: wherein x=5-6; y=6 or 9; and z=0 or 1; and a polyethoxylated tallow amine comprising an ethyoxylated, dodecyl benzenesulfonate tallow amine salt.
  4. 4 . The composition of claim 3 , wherein the oxyalkylated resin comprises a nonylphenol group.
  5. 5 . The composition of 3 , wherein a weight ratio of a nonylphenol ether copolymer of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide (EO-PO) to an ethoxylated (EO) nonylphenol is about 3:1.
  6. 6 . The composition of claim 5 , wherein a weight ratio of the ethoxylated (EO) nonylphenol to the polyethoxylated tallow amine is about 1:2.
  7. 7 . The composition of claim 3 , wherein the oilfield application comprises water treatment, antifouling, deposit inhibition, emulsifying, anti-flocculation, anti-agglomeration, clarification, or a combination thereof.
  8. 8 . A method of reducing water fouling in an oilfield application, the method comprising contacting water with a composition comprising an oxyalkylated resin having a molecular structure: wherein X=5-6; y=6 or 9; and z=0 or 1; and a polyethoxylated tallow amine comprising an ethyoxylated, dodecyl benzenesulfonate tallow amine salt.
  9. 9 . The composition of claim 8 , wherein a weight ratio of a nonylphenol ether copolymer of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide (EO-PO) to an ethoxylated (EO) nonylphenol is about 3:1.
  10. 10 . The composition of claim 8 , wherein a weight ratio of the ethoxylated (EO) nonylphenol to the polyethoxylated tallow amine is about 1:2.
  11. 11 . The composition of claim 8 , wherein the oilfield application comprises water treatment, antifouling, deposit inhibition, emulsifying, anti-flocculation, anti-agglomeration, clarification, or a combination thereof.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/376,564, filed Sep. 21, 2022; the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to water treatment compositions. More specifically, fouling inhibiting compositions herein may comprise novel combinations of phenol-based groups. BACKGROUND This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art. Produced water cooler (PWC) and boiler fouling has been an issue for years with water treatment processes. In environments such as Canadian oil sands and heavy oil facilities, the remediation of fouling may be costly for oil producers. Generally, PWC's have been widely used to cool down the water generated from high temperature oil/water phase separators in Canadian oil sands operations, including steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and thermal operations, for example. While the high temperature produced water (e.g., 120-140° C.) are cooled by passing through the PWC, soluble organic matters (SOM) in the produced water may precipitate and deposit onto the PWC surface. At times, the foulant can partially block the heat exchanger flow pass causing increasing operating pressure, and formation of an organic layer on the PWC inner surface to reduce its heat transfer efficiency. A combination of thermal, mechanical and chemical cleaning methods may be used to remediate the PWC fouling issue to return the PWC back to its operational state. The cost for PWC regular remediation may be relatively high, so there may be significant needs for developing new antifoulant chemicals that can extend the run time of the PWC and save the operating cost for oil producers. For at least the foregoing reasons, there is a need in the industry for efficient methods and compositions for water treatment, such as reducing or preventing water fouling. BRIEF SUMMARY Various compositions and methods are disclosed herein including a water treatment compositions comprising a nonylphenol resin; and a polyethoxylated tallow amine. Another aspect of the disclosure is a water treatment composition for an oilfield application, the composition comprising an oxyalkylated resin having a molecular structure: wherein x=5-6; y=6 or 9; and z=0 or 1. Another aspect of the disclosure is a method of reducing water fouling in an oilfield application, the method comprising contacting water with a composition comprising an oxyalkylated resin having a molecular structure: wherein x=5-6; y=6 or 9; and z=0 or 1. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 depicts a graph of the time in hours versus normalized differential pressure for 2 ppm and 5 ppm of Composition A. FIG. 2 depicts a graph of the time in hours versus normalized differential pressure for 10 ppm of Composition A, Composition B, and Composition C. Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Although the present disclosure provides references to preferred embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, any examples set forth in this specification are not intended to be limiting and merely set forth some of the many possible embodiments for the appended claims. Various specific embodiments and versions of the present disclosure will now be described, including preferred embodiments and definitions that are adopted herein. While the following detailed description gives specific preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these embodiments are exemplary only, and that the present disclosure can be practiced in other ways. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. In case of conflict, the present document, including definitions, will control. Preferred methods and materials are described below, although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in practice or testing of the present disclosure. All publications, patent applications, patents and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. The materials, methods, and examples disclosed herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. The terms “comprise(s),” “include(s),” “having,” “has,” “can,” “contain(s),”