Silica Scale Inhibition Experiments: Geogard SX Application on Geothermal Brine with Ultra High Concentration of SiO2

Abstract

The Botong sector of the Bacon-Manito geothermal production field has undergone a series of experiments to find a proper method of disposing the high silica effluent generated by the Osiao-Pangas (OP) wells. The application of Geogard XY, a chemical inhibitor, was experimented in the field to test its effectivity on the Botong brine which contains > 11 00 ppin SOz. Two different concentrations of the chemical, CI and C2, were tested for the hot injection and jar experiments. In the hot injection experiment, concentration C1 was found effective in preventing silica deposition in pipes and formation materials while C2 showed dispersive action to silica polymer but did not inhibit silica deposition. The jar experiments showed significant activity of Geogard SI- in stabilizing the colloidal dispersion of polymeric silica formed for both tested concentrations C2 however, showed longer effectivity compared to Cl.