Bony Budiman

OILFIELD CHEMICALS :
QUALITY CONTROL
BONY BUDIMAN
2021

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Bony Budiman

COMMON QUESTION

• How to ensure the incoming chemicals

has quality as per contract ?
• What is the critical parameter during
quality control ?
• What is the accepted specification for
each parameter?
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
 Bony Budiman

OBJECTIVE

• Share important quality control

parameter to ensure quality of oil
and gas chemicals
• Share some method that could
be use in quality control of oil
and gas chemicals

Courtesy Picture : https://depositphotos.com/188508120/stock-photo-modern-chemical-laboratory.html

Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

INTRODUCTION

• Some chemicals has important role in the oil and gas production. It is very important to
ensure that all chemicals meet requirement quality as agreed by user and chemical
supplier.
• The quality of chemicals could be identified by analysis the physical and chemical
properties.
• For further analysis, laboratory performance test may required to.
Bony Budiman

DETERMINE QC PARAMETERS

• QC parameters will be depend on type of chemical, level of importance, analyzer, and time
availability.
• Type of chemical : for commodity chemicals such as MEG, Methanol, HCl, Caustic Soda, it is
important and doable to check the purity but for specialty chemicals such as demulsifier,
Corrosion Inhibitor and Pour Point Depressant it is not easy to check the purity since we
need material standard as comparison and the test method may be propriety of the chemical
producer.
• Level of importance : chemical that will directly affect the production quality such as
demulsifier shall be has more parameters than chemicals that use as supporting such as HCl
for cleaning.
• User shall evaluate the required parameters by considering concerns above.
 Bony Budiman

EXAMPLE OF QC PARAMETERS

No Chemical QC Parameter No Chemical QC Parameter

1 Demulsifier Appearance, Color, SG, 7 NaOH pH, SG,
2 PPD FTIR, Solubility
8 HCl pH, SG,
3 Corrosion Inhibitor Appearance, Color, pH, SG, 9 MEG SG, purity
4 Reverse Demulsifier FTIR, Solubility
10 Citric Acid SG, purity
5 Biocide 11 Methanol SG, purity
6 Scale Inhibitor Appearance, Color, pH, SG, etc
Solubility
etc
 Bony Budiman

DETERMINE SPECIFICATION

• Specification means accepted range criteria for a parameter.

• The specification of the analytical request should address the following issues:
o Analytical context o Measurement uncertainty
o Information required o Method requirements, including sample preparation
o Criticality/acceptable risk
o Identification/confirmation/fingerprinting
o Time constrain
o Limit criteria
o Cost constraints
o QA/QC requirements
o Sampling
o Traceability requirements o Research plan requirements/approval
Bony Budiman

DETERMINE SPECIFICATION

• Specification for each chemical and each parameter/requirement may has different method to
determine
• For example specific gravity. For commodity chemicals such as Methanol and MEG, specific gravity at
specific concentration is quite exact. MEG 100% wt at temperature 30oC has specific gravity 1.105 and
while MEG 90% wt at same temperature has specific gravity 1.099. So we want to determine
specification specific gravity of MEG 100% wt and concentration 90% wt is unacceptable . it suggested
that the specification to be no more then ± 0.006
• For specialty chemicals where each chemical may consist of two or more component, the specification
could be wider. For example SG for demulsifier could be ± 0.05.
• Bear in mind, wider means more variation but tighter may lead to more rejection.You have to find the
optimum value of specification for each parameter
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
 Bony Budiman

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

• Physical property is a characteristic of a substance that can be observed or measured

without changing the identity of the substance. Silver is a shiny metal that conducts
electricity very well. It can be molded into thin sheets, a property called malleability. Salt
is dull and brittle and conducts electricity when it has been dissolved into water, which it
does quite easily.
• Physical properties of matter include :
o Appearance, o Viscosity
o Color o pH
o Solubility o Flash Point
o Density/Specific Gravity o Cleanliness
 Bony Budiman

APPEARANCE

• Appearance analysis may refer to ASTM E2680 Standard Test Method for
Appearance of Clear, Transparent Liquids (Visual Inspection Procedure)
• This test method describes the visual assessment of the appearance of
clear, transparent liquids for clarity and the presence of undesirable
components (contamination) such as suspended matter, free water (or oil)
and particulates when examined by transmitted light
• This parameter is quite easy and could be use as the first control. For
example if we found separated layer of the liquid meanwhile it shall be
homogenous, it may indicate chemical decomposition.

Courtesy Picture : /https://sciencing.com/examples-immiscible-liquids-15329.html

 Bony Budiman

COLOR

• Some chemicals such as MEG and Methanol are colorless,

others such as Scale Inhibitor and Corrosion Inhibitor have
variety of color range from pale yellow to dark brown.
• Simple quality control of color is by compare the incoming
chemical with the standard.
• For further analysis, the color measurement could be refer to
ASTM D1209 - Standard Test Method for Color of Clear
Liquids (Platinum-Cobalt Scale). Others method also
developed such as Iodine Color Number, Hazen Color
Number, Gardner Color Number, Lovibond-Color System, etc

Courtesy Picture : Application Report No. 3.11 eDOC042.52.00019, Objective color assessment and quality control in thechemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries
Bony Budiman

SOLUBILITY

• Solubility is defined as the maximum amount of a substance that will dissolve in a given
amount of solvent at a specified temperature. In oilfield chemicals, it simplify as solubility of
chemicals in water or in hydrocarbon phase.
• Some chemicals such as Corrosion Inhibitor, Demulsifier and Reverse Demulsifier has specific
solubility. Changes in solubility may indicate the change of composition
• The solubility expression could be expressed as full soluble in (water or hydrocarbon),
dispersible or quantitatively in % or ratio.
• Detail procedure could be refer to 105. Oecd Guideline for The Testing of Chemicals – Water
Solubility, ASTM E1148-Standard Test Method for Measurements of Aqueous Solubility, and
RSN procedure specific for Demulsifier
 Bony Budiman

SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND DENSITY

• Density is defined as mass per unit volume. It has the SI unit kg m-3 or kg/m3 and
is an absolute quantity. Specific gravity is the ratio of a material's density with that
of water at 4 °C (where it is most dense and is taken to have the value 999.974
kg m-3). It is therefore a relative quantity with no units
• Specific gravity or density is a “mandatory” parameter since it is simple and quite
provide overall physical information of the chemical characteristic.
• Specific gravity could be an important parameter to analyze since it related to the
substance composition. For example, demulsifier with specific gravity stated as
the MSDS 0.920-0.960. When the next batch has SG = 0.90, it may has less active
content since the solvent of demulsifier usually has SG less than 0.90

Courtesy Picture : https://www.labdirect.com.au/specific-gravity-hydrometer-0-800-1-000-x-0-005-0-005-15-6-c-260mm-long/

 Bony Budiman

VISCOSITY

• Viscosity is a measurement of how resistant a fluid is in attempts to move through

it.
• A fluid with a low viscosity is said to be "thin" while a high viscosity fluid is said to
be "thick".
• Similar with specific gravity, viscosity could be use to provide general physical
properties composition. Out of specification result may indicate change of
composition.
• At field where the chemical injected through small and long diameter tubing such
as from offshore platform to subsea, viscosity become more critical and shall be
put in the parameter list of quality control

Courtesy Picture : https://www.amazon.com/QWERTOUR-Rotational-Viscometer-Viscosimeter-Instrument/dp/B08LR3CZCG/

Bony Budiman

FLASH POINT

• Flash point is the lowest temperature at which a liquid will form vapour in the
air near its surface that will “flash” or briefly ignite, on exposure to open flame.
• A brass test cup of specified dimensions, filled to the inside mark with test
specimen and fitted with a cover of specified dimensions, is heated and the
specimen stirred at specified rates. An ignition source is directed into the test
cup at regular intervals with simultaneous interruption of the stirring, until a
flash is detected.
• Addition of hydrocarbon solvent will lowering the flash point.
• This parameter also important for safety aspect especially when chemical may
exposure to the possible source of ignition.
 Bony Budiman

H
P
• The pH is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of an
aqueous sample and is determined by the relative number of
hydronium ions present
• pH is another mandatory parameter in quality control of
chemicals.
• Some chemicals will provide optimum performance at specific pH
range. Change of chemical composition also will affect the result
of pH
• Some chemicals that suggested to review by its pH are
Corrosion Inhibitor, Scale Inhibitor, Biocide , Caustic Soda, Citric
Acid liquid, water based cleaner and reverse demulsifier

Courtesy Picture : https://www.pixtastock.com/illustration/61735506/

Bony Budiman

CLEANLINESS

• Cleanliness is particle contaminant degree in the liquid

chemical
• Particulate contamination may lead to equipment fouling and
malfunction during well treatment.
• This is particularly true for the long umbilical lines that are
used for off-shore treatment, which are on the order of
several miles in length and may have minimum tolerances of
as little as 0.7 mm. For this reason it is necessary that any
chemical which enters the umbilical be free of excessive
particulate contamination.
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

• Chemical properties of matter describe the composition of substance

• Chemical properties could be observed by analysis such parameters below:
• Active Content
• Titration
• Gas Chromatography
• Others Method
• Mixture Composition by FTIR
 Bony Budiman

TITRATION

• A titration is a technique used to work out the concentration of an

unknown solution based on its chemical reaction with a solution of
known concentration. The process usually involves adding the known
solution (the titrant) to a known quantity of the unknown solution (the
analyte) until the reaction is complete
• Titration require a skillful of laboratory technician since it require
accuracy start from sampling, weighing, liquid dropping until calculation.
• Some active content that could be determined by titration : NaOH, HCl,
citric acid, triazin (active content of H2S Scavenger) and ammonia liquid.

Courtesy Picture : https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/779937/view/naoh-hcl-titration-3-of-3

 Bony Budiman

GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

• Gas chromatography (GC) is an analytical technique used

to separate the chemical components of a sample mixture
and then detect them to determine their presence or
absence and/or how much is present.
• These chemical components are usually organic molecules
or gases. For GC to be successful in their analysis, these
components need to be volatile, usually with a molecular
weight below 1250 Da, and thermally stable so they don’t
degrade in the GC system
• Some commodity chemicals that could be analyzed by GC
are MEG and Methanol.
Courtesy Picture : https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10337-014-2650-8://www.sciencephoto.com/media/779937/view/naoh-hcl-titration-3-of-3
Bony Budiman

FTIR

• Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique

used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission
of a solid, liquid or gas.
• FTIR could be used to compare the incoming chemical with
the retain standard sample.
• Change of peak wide may indicate change in % composition
and change of peak type may indicate change in chemical
ingredient
• At picture beside, black graph is the standard and the blue one
is the incoming chemical. The peak type was different at
wavelength 3600 cm-1, and the wave wide is different at
wavelength 3000 – 800 cm-1.
 Bony Budiman

OTHERS METHOD

• Others method could be used to check the active content, such as

gravimetric, UV-Vis Spectrophotometer and refractometer
• Refractometer could be use to analysis purity of MEG. The instrument
converts the refractive index of a sample to percent volume or
freezing point.These conversions are based on internationally
recognized references for unit conversion and temperature
compensation for glycol solutions.
• Any test method can be used as long as it is validated against the
international standard method such as ASTM, APHA, ISO, etc.

Courtesy Picture : httpshttps://www.hannainst.com/hi96831-digital-refractometer-for-ethylene-glycol-freezing-point-

analysis.htmllink.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10337-014-2650-8://www.sciencephoto.com/media/779937/view/naoh-hcl-
titration-3-of-3
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

PERFORMANCE TEST

• Performance test is test that conducted to check the chemical effectiveness.

• The test conducted in the laboratory and usually applied for specialty chemicals such as
Corrosion Inhibitor, Scale Inhibitor and demulsifier.
• The incoming sample shall be compare to original or retain sample.
• The performance test may lead to long time, extra effort and costly. This test may be
considered if the physical and chemical properties test are not adequate or when the
chemical contract was paid by performance not by chemical volume.
• The performance test shall be conducted to well known international standard test
method or use procedure that agreed by user and the chemical supplier.
 Bony Budiman

PERFORMANCE TEST TYPE AND REFERENCE (1)

No Chemicals Test Type Reference

1 Demulsifier Bottle Test Demulsifier -

2 Reverse Demulsifier • Jar Test
• Bottle Test
3 Corrosion Inhibitor • Rotating Cylinder Electrode (RCE)
• Rotating Cage
• Jet Impingement
• High Pressure Experiments
4 H2S Scavenger Gas Phase Scavenging Test
ASTM D2035 - 19
Standard Practice for Coagulation-Flocculation Jar
Test of Water
ASTM G170 Standard Guide for Evaluating and
Qualifying Oilfield and Refinery Corrosion Inhibitors
in the Laboratory
https://osf.io/wb28v/download/

5 Biocide Kill Time Test NACE TM0194 Standard Test Method for Field
Monitoring of Bacterial Growth in Oil and Gas
System
 Bony Budiman

PERFORMANCE TEST AND REFERENCE (2)

No Chemicals Test Type Reference

6 Scale Inhibitor • Titration NACE TM0374 - Laboratory Screening Tests to Determine
• Tube Blocking Test the Ability of Scale Inhibitors to Prevent the Precipitation of
Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Carbonate from Solution (for Oil
and Gas Production Systems)
7 Defoamer Bubbling Test ASTM E2407 Effectiveness of Defoaming Agents
8 Oxygen Scavenger
9 Pour Point Pour Point Test ASTM D-97 and ASTM D 5853
Depressant
10 Hydrate Inhibitor Rocking Cell -
Autoclave test
11 Mercury Removal Mercury in Water Test ASTM D3223 - Standard Test Method for Total Mercury in
Water
12 Drag Reducer Pressure Drop Test -
Bony Budiman

OUTLINE

• OBJECTIVE
• INTRODUCTION
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
• PERFORMANCE TEST
• SUMMARY
Bony Budiman

SUMMARY

• Quality control is a priority in the oil and gas chemicals, ensuring that
products are made according to the right formulas or as per
agreement/contract and that finished goods can be rated at the
appropriate potency, eliminating loss of treated fluid quality or failure of
asset integrity.
• Suitable parameter and specification in quality control shall consider the
chemical type, time and resources (availability of analyzer and personnel
competency).
Bony Budiman

REFERENCES

• ISO/IEC 17025 - General Requirements for The Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories

• CITAC / EURACHEM GUIDE - Guide to Quality in Analytical Chemistry, Edition 2002

• ASTM E2680 Standard Test Method for Appearance of Clear, Transparent Liquids (Visual Inspection
Procedure)

• Application Report No. 3.11 eDOC042.52.00019, Objective Color Assessment and Quality Control in
The Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Industries