Effect of Produced Sand Particles and Fines on Scale Inhibitor: A Review
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this review paper, authors have studied various aspects of produced particles on scale inhibitors. Overall I like review papers but the biggest issue with this paper is that authors have only reviewed 2 papers from 2019 and none from 2020 and 2021. The number of papers that authors have reviewed is not bad but most of them are outdated and old. Another aspect is the images that authors have used are very low quality and many of them are simple images that can easily and should be reproduced. Even figure one that is authors courtesy has a very poor quality. Ultimately, authors need to include a statement and bring their own judgment about with direction they think this topic should go and what is missing and what is the strength of this field. I understand this latest comment is the preference of some people to include their own judgment but, the main goal of all review papers is to give a clear future path for others who'd like to start this research which this review article lacks.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: In this review paper, authors have studied various aspects of produced particles on scale inhibitors. Overall I like review papers but the biggest issue with this paper is that authors have only reviewed 2 papers from 2019 and none from 2020 and 2021. The number of papers that authors have reviewed is not bad but most of them are outdated and old. Another aspect is the images that authors have used are very low quality and many of them are simple images that can easily and should be reproduced. Even figure one that is authors courtesy has a very poor quality. Ultimately, authors need to include a statement and bring their own judgment about with direction they think this topic should go and what is missing and what is the strength of this field. I understand this latest comment is the preference of some people to include their own judgment but, the main goal of all review papers is to give a clear future path for others who'd like to start this research which this review article lacks.
Response 1: Actions have been taken to address the recommended corrections above critically and concisely. Review of recent journals has been incorporated as highlighted in the Reference. It should be noted that this research area is new and not much research work has gone into this field. This has necessitated the examination of some of the old journals to form basis and framework for building up of the knowledge gap reported in the work. The abstract, introduction and conclusion have been amended to address the points raised.
The concerned images (Figures 1 and 2) in pages 3 and 4 respectively have been modified. The authors have made clear the direction of the topic by clearly making a statement through their own judgement about the direction of the topic, what is missing and the strength of the field. These points have been incorporated in the abstract, introduction and conclusion as highlighted therein.
Reviewer 2 Report
This work is useful review for many oil and gas industry applications on effect of scale inhibition. I support the publication of the manuscript. My minor comments are related only to the scientific style of English.
- page 2 in paragraph starting "Knowledge of the ..." correct the style in sentence "Additionally, report on ..." ('such as' is repeated 3 times).
- page 4 in paragraph starting "Chakraborty et al. ..." correct the last sentence 1) instead of Wan der Waal should be van der Waals and wording 'a process known as adsorption' seems excessive.
- page 6 in paragraph starting "The number of ..." clarify the text from "Polyphosphinocarbo(l)xylic acid ... . However (?) ... ".
- page 8 in paragraph starting "The surface of sand consists of ... " clarify the sentence "In contrast, Yan et al. ... ". There is no paper Tomson et al (2003) in the References.
- page 9 in paragraph starting "Oluyemi (2013) has ... " in 2nd sentence instead of 'He' better to cite 'Oluyemi".
- page 10 in Eqn.[2.2] on right hand it seems Ca^2+ is missed.
General comment: The scale inhibitors are surfactants which lower the surface energy at interface rock mineral - brine fluid. In this way probably sometimes they can facilitate the rock disintegration and formation of fine sands in pores (Traskin, 2009; Shchukin, 2006).
Shchukin, E.D. (2006) The Influence of surface-active media on the mechanical properties of materials. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 123-126, pp.33-47.
Traskin, V.Yu. (2009) Rehbinder Effect in Tectonophysics. Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, vol.45, no.11, pp. 952-963.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: page 2 in paragraph starting "Knowledge of the ..." correct the style in sentence "Additionally, report on ..." ('such as' is repeated 3 times).
Response to 1: The sentences above have been removed because of adjustments made in the introduction to address the points raised by Reviewer 1.
Point 2: page 4 in paragraph starting "Chakraborty et al. ..." correct the last sentence 1) instead of Wan der Waal should be van der Waals and wording 'a process known as adsorption' seems excessive.
Response to point 2: The above spotted correction has been made s shown in page 5 and reads,
“This rock-chemical interaction is attributed to Van der Waal forces which bind the chemical to the rock surfaces (Nisrine et al., 2013) through adsorption.”
Point 3: page 6 in paragraph starting "The number of ..." clarify the text from "Polyphosphinocarbo(l)xylic acid ... .However (?) ... ".
Response to point 3 has been updated and could be seen reflected in page 7 as shown below,
“The number of phosphonate groups, carboxylic and hydroxyl groups attached to a compound has a significant role in the inhibition efficiency of the molecule. The phosphonate groups strongly adsorb onto the BaSO4 or CaCO3 crystalline substrate owing to the high chelating ability of the -P(O)(OH)2 groups when ionized to PO32- (Yang et al., 2001). However, polyphosphinocarboxylic acid (PPCA) has been reported to lower the ionic activity product of scales through either chelating of the metal ions or by decreasing pH (Kumar et al., 2010).”
Point 4: page 9 in paragraph starting "The surface of sand consists of ... " clarify the sentence "In contrast, Yan et al. ... ". There is no paper Tomson et al (2003) in the References.
Response to point 4: The above-mentioned paragraph has been amended as shown in page 9 and the missing journal has been added accordingly, please see below and “Reference” page 19.
“The surface of quartzite sand consists of charged particles that produce field of force as depicted in Figure 5 below. The permanent negative charges on the quartzitic sand are charge balanced by cations exchangers which are chemically bound to the surfaces of the adsorbent.”
“TOMSON, M. B., FU, G., WATSON, M. A. and KAN, A. T. (2003) Mechanisms of Mineral Scale Inhibition. SPE Production & Facilities, August 2003, PP 192-199.”
Point 5: page 9 in paragraph starting "Oluyemi (2013) has ... " in 2nd sentence instead of 'He' better to cite 'Oluyemi".
Response to point 5 has been done in page 11 as shown “Oluyemi further ascertained that the eroding effects of sand particles can cause a reduction in the amount of inhibitors adsorbed as a result of reduction of the surface area of sand available for adsorption or the stripping off of the already adsorbed inhibitor species from the formation.”
Point 6: page 10 in Eqn.[2.2] on right hand it seems Ca^2+ is missed.
Response to point 6 done in page 11 as shown, “Clay-Ca2+ + H2O Clay-H+ + OH- + Ca2+ + Heat Eqn. [2.2]”
2) General comment: The scale inhibitors are surfactants which lower the surface energy at interface rock mineral - brine fluid. In this way probably sometimes they can facilitate the rock disintegration and formation of fine sands in pores (Traskin, 2009; Shchukin, 2006).
Shchukin, E.D. (2006) The Influence of surface-active media on the mechanical properties of materials. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 123-126, pp.33-47.
Traskin, V.Yu. (2009) Rehbinder Effect in Tectonophysics. Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, vol.45, no.11, pp. 952-963.
Response: The mentioned journals and their findings have been incorporated in the manuscript, see introduction section, page 1.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Although some of the figures are messed up and formating gas changed during submission to the system but I was able to see that authors have modified the manuscript to some extent and improved the quality.
