Scales in the petroleum industry: phase identification

Petroleum products are essential to the world's operation. In order to keep the petroleum industries flowing, scale buildup must be reduced. Whether your interest is in scales, cuttings, cements or muds in the drilling industry, phase identification analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an important tool in this industry.

The primary goal of this application is to quickly identify the phases contained within the sample material. Data collection with the new sixth generation Rigaku MiniFlex X-ray diffractometer, combined with data reduction and Search/Match analysis using the PDXL software package made simple work out of analyzing scales. Using known reference standards from the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) database, peak positions are used to determine the phases contained with the analyzed material. Shown in the X-ray diffraction pattern below is a sample that is primarily comprised of calcite. However, without careful evaluation one might miss the muscovite. The left zoom picture shows the 100% line of the muscovite contained in the sample.

The new MiniFlex™ benchtop XRD system delivers cost-effective petrochemical analysis. It is a multipurpose analytical instrument that can determine: phase identification and quantification, percent (%) crystallinity, crystallite size and strain, lattice parameter refinement, Rietveld refinement, and molecular structure. It is the newest addition to the MiniFlex series of benchtop X-ray diffraction analysers from Rigaku, which began with the introduction of the original MiniFlex system over four decades ago. These systems are widely used in research, especially in material science and chemistry, as well as in industry for exploration and quality assurance.

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