Mohammed Al-Khaldi

PhD student - Eng

Education

B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in 2001.

M.Sc in Petroleum Engineering, University of Adelaide in 2005.

Work Experience

Joined Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia in March 2001

Southern Area Oil Production  (6 months)
Research & Development Department  (4 years)

Research Project

Reaction of Organic Acids with Calcite

Supervisors: Dr. Hemanta Sarma (ASP), Dr. Hisham Nasr-El-Din (TAMU)

Scholarship support: Saudi Aramco

Technical Support: R&DC (Saudi Aramco)

Introduction

Citric acid has been used in stimulation treatments as an additive to hydrochloric acid.  It has been used to stabilize iron in spent HCl acids and prevent precipitation of ferric hydroxide, and/or iron sulfide.  Its application for damage removal in carbonate rocks has historically not received widespread acceptance due to concerns about formation damage by potential precipitation of calcium citrate, which is one of the main reaction products of citric acid with calcite.  An additional reason is its lower bulk carbonate dissolving power relative to hydrochloric acid. However, concerns about using hydrochloric acid have recently sparked recently interest in citric acid for stimulation.  The main objective of this project is to study the reaction of citric acid with calcite and determine the optimal design parameters for its application in reservoir stimulation.

Scope of project

One of the main objectives of this study is to obtain a fundamental understanding of citric acid reaction with calcite, which is required for effective application of citric acid in stimulation treatments.  To achieve this goal, it is essential to simulate the reaction of citric acid with calcite at downhole conditions.  In this research, the rotating disk apparatus will be used to determine the reaction kinetics of citric acid reaction with calcite.