Ceramics

Application of Fine Ceramics in Petroleum Exploitation

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is stalemate, and the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia have caused a series of "stress reactions" such as shortage of oil and natural gas resources and rising prices. The past wars in the Middle East removed the deep-rooted conflicts between various ethnic and religious forces in the region, and also exacerbated regional conflicts due to the control of various resources and strategies represented by oil from foreign forces. Stability and so on are crucial to both global resource allocation and national and regional cooperation.

Advanced ceramic materials have excellent performance, and in what form they are used in oil extraction, you can learn from the following examples:

1. Application of ceramic lined composite tubing

Tubing is one of the main equipment in oilfield production, which has been plagued by corrosion and wear for a long time. After a series of application studies of different pipeline materials, the emergence of ceramic-lined composite tubing has greatly improved the above problems. Ceramic-lined composite tubing is the world's longest ceramic-lined composite tubing by lining advanced ceramic alumina on the inner wall of tubing by using "self-propagating high temperature synthesis method".

Features of ceramic lined composite tubing:

(1) Good anti-corrosion performance: The lining ceramic of the ceramic-lined composite oil pipe is α-Al2O3, which has extremely high chemical stability and is resistant to various acid and alkali corrosion. times or even dozens of times.

(2) It has excellent wear resistance: the hardness of ceramic lining is more than five times that of ordinary tubing, which is one of the important characteristics of ceramic lined composite tubing.

(3) It has good anti-waxing and scaling performance: a large number of structures will be attached to the oil pipes and oil pumps in the production process of oil wells, which becomes a major obstacle to oilfield production. The neutral ceramic lining does not react electrochemically with the wax and scale in the oil and gas, nor does it have affinity. The dense and smooth ceramic surface increases the wettability of the surface (hydrophilic and oil-repellent), and no junctions are formed. Scale builds up wax nuclei, preventing wax and scale from taking root and building up on the ceramic surface.

(4) It has good mechanical properties: ①The mechanical properties of the ceramic-lined composite tubing base remain unchanged. ②The ceramic tubing has excellent crushing strength.

(5) The stainless steel protection ring is embedded in the port: in order to avoid the excessive torque or fast speed of tightening the oil pipe in the field of the ceramic-lined composite oil pipe, the ceramic layer of the port part is often ruptured. A 2mm thick stainless steel protection ring is embedded in the port, which not only prevents the ceramic rupture of the port, but also improves the wear resistance of the port.

News extension:

On February 8, 2022, the "ISO 24565 "Ceramic Lined Tubing Pipe for Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry", which was led by the China National Petroleum Corporation Engineering Materials Research Institute, a scientific research unit in Shaanxi, was officially released. The release of this international standard fills the gap in China's leading international standards for petroleum tubular products, marking that China's technical capabilities in the field of petroleum tubular products and the right to speak on international standards have been significantly improved.

This standard mainly specifies the manufacturing process, material requirements, mechanical properties, inspection and testing and other technical requirements of ceramic-lined tubing for oil and gas industry, and is applicable to the manufacture and remanufacturing of new (old) ceramic-lined tubing for oil production and water injection.

2. Application of ceramic membrane in the treatment of oil field produced water

The use of ceramic membranes in the treatment of oilfield produced water has obvious advantages. The first is the hydrophilic and oleophobic properties of the material, which is conducive to preventing the pollution of organic substances; secondly, due to the chemical stability of the ceramic membrane material, it can be cleaned and regenerated with cleaning agents such as strong acid, strong alkali, strong redox agent, etc.; It has high mechanical strength and can be used and cleaned under high temperature and high pressure. Finally, the quality of the effluent from the ceramic membrane is good and stable, which can fully meet the requirements of the water injection quality of the low-permeability oil layer under the standard requirements.

Compared with other water treatment methods, the equipment investment and operating cost of ceramic membrane treatment of produced water also have obvious advantages, which is mainly due to the long service life of ceramic membrane equipment (generally three to five years), small footprint, and few supporting facilities, etc. .

3. Application of thermal spraying high-performance ceramic coating technology in petroleum machinery and equipment

(1) High wear environment

Most of the petroleum machinery works in the environment of severe wear, accompanied by corrosion, abrasive wear, dry grinding and other harsh working conditions. The high wear-resistant carbide ceramic coating was used to replace the original nitriding treatment, and the bench test showed that the wear resistance of the ceramic spiral sleeve was increased by 24 times.

With the increase of water content in oil and gas production fluids and the widespread implementation of water injection technology, the working environment of most oilfield oil pumps is a water-lubricated environment. As a result, the oil well pump is often in the state of boundary friction and dry friction, which is prone to friction and wear failure. Modified components are added to the traditional ceramic coating, combined with the low electrode potential bonding bottom layer and gradient coating design, to form a new composite coating system, and combined with on-site working conditions, scientific ceramic coating and matching friction pairs are carried out Adaptable selection and design, the developed ceramic oil pump plunger and injection pump plunger have achieved the full use of the layered structure of the ceramic coating, the wettability storage, wear resistance, and the strength and toughness of the metal. Compared with the original chrome plating and spray welding coating, the service life is increased by 1 to 3 times.

(2) Highly corrosive environment

The petrochemical industry has many corrosive environments such as chloride ion corrosion, H2S stress corrosion, atmospheric corrosion, etc., and is accompanied by the characteristics of multiple states, changeable and uncertain corrosion environment, and puts forward higher corrosion resistance requirements for equipment. The valve plate with ceramic coating has no obvious corrosion on the valve seat, showing good adaptability. After special processing, the surface roughness is increased and the opening torque is reduced.

(3) High friction and stable environment

On the premise of maintaining the excellent properties of ceramics, the ceramic coating prepared by thermal spraying also has the characteristics of convenient adjustment of coating composition. The coiled tubing injection head not only requires the friction block to have a high friction coefficient to reduce the clamping force and ensure the injection force, but also requires the normal construction under the changing environment of oil-water and dry lubrication. By spraying a ceramic coating with dispersed hard points, the surface roughness of the coating can greatly improve the friction coefficient between the injection head and the injection pipe, reduce the extrusion force, avoid slippage, and due to the high wear resistance of ceramics , greatly improve the service life and safety of the injection head.

The belt pulley of the pumping unit works in the field environment all the year round. By preparing a rough surface coating, a natural groove is formed to prevent the rain from slipping, and the "twist force" is improved to improve the transmission efficiency.

(4) Special function requirements environment

As the oilfield enters the middle and late stage of exploitation, the tertiary oil recovery technology is gradually popularized, and then it brings many special problems such as scaling, wax deposition, high water salinity, etc., which puts forward higher requirements for the performance and quality of petroleum machinery parts.

The produced fluid of the formation with high salinity has the dual effects of a large number of hard crystals and corrosion, which is a typical abrasive wear. The chrome coating is very prone to pitting and strain, and the sprayed ceramic coating combined with the special sealing technology, This problem can be largely solved.

Refinery catalytic cracking settlers have serious coking problems, and accidents often occur. The ceramic modified coating scheme is adopted to reduce the surface energy of ceramics, reduce the nucleation and growth tendency of coke, and reduce the adhesion of coke to make it fall off at an early stage, thereby solving the problem of coke.

4. Application of cermet paint on offshore oil platforms

With the gradual reduction or even exhaustion of onshore and offshore oil resources, the development of oil and gas resources has also continued to enter the deep sea. In order to meet the growing demand for energy, the developed countries in the world focus on the development of oil and gas resources in the deep sea. The anti-corrosion environment in the deep sea is very harsh, especially in the splash area, where metal corrosion is the most serious, which poses a great challenge to the application technology of paint.

Cermets are structural materials composed of ceramic hard phases bonded to metals or alloys. It not only maintains the high strength, high hardness, wear resistance, high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance and chemical stability of ceramics, but also has good metal toughness and plasticity. It is of great technical and economic significance to make a layer of cermet on the surface of cheap steel to make a surface composite material to improve its service life in the marine environment.