Modeling Flow of Chelating Agents During Stimulation of Carbonate Reservoirs

Chelating agents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and hydroxy ethylene diamine triacetic acid (HEDTA) have been used as stand-alone stimulation fluids. These fluids can be used to stimulate water injectors, oil, or gas producers. In this study, an analytical model was developed to describe the flow of HEDTA and EDTA chelating agents and propagation inside calcite formations. The analytical model can be used as a pre-design tool before the treatments. The developed model can be used to predict the volume of the chelant required to create wormholes in calcite formations at different temperatures. The temperature affects the diffusion coefficient of the chelating agent, wormholing rate, and wormhole shape and size. The dissolving power of different forms of HEDTA can be determined using the model. The optimum injection rate based on optimum wormholing conditions was identified. Also, the model can be used to predict the wormholing rate of different chelating agents in calcite formations. The analytical model can be used to predict the performance of the chelating agent in calcite stimulation. The volume of chelating agent required to stimulate calcite formation per foot thickness was determined using the developed model. The optimum injection rate was determined for different chelating agents using the model, and the results were compared with experimental results from previous work and there was a good agreement between the measured and the predicted values. The model can be used to determine the best stimulation fluid based on the temperature and fracture pressure of the target zones.