Laboratory
Techbox Systems sister company, Techbox Scientific offers independent scale inhibitor and wax inhibitor testing within our in-house laboratory.
Dynamic Tube Blocking Test / Dynamic Scaling Loop Test
Dynamic scale loop testing is an industry standard test to evaluate the performance of scale inhibitors under specific temperatures and pressures in a synthetic brine system. The brine is split into the anion and cation solutions and pumped separately though heated coils into the oven before mixing together in the scaling loop / coil.
Typically, blank tests are carried out in the absence of inhibitor to establish a blank scaling run time. The scale inhibitor is then dosed into the anion brine and run at a specific concentration(s), followed by another blank run to show the scale will again form in the absence of any inhibitor. The Differential scale loop is very versatile and the test conditions can be adapted to customer requirements.
Scale Inhibitor – Brine Compatibility Tests
Incompatibilities between the scale inhibitor and the synthetic test brine can be determined by visual assessment during a compatibility test. Incompatibilities are identified as precipitates, phase separation, haziness or gels, amongst other abnormalities.
Thermal Stability Testing
The test studies the effects of temperature on neat scale inhibitors and is used to simulate the chemical being locked in a specific location for a prolonged period of time at elevated temperatures.
Wax Cold Finger (Paraffin) Testing
The cold finger apparatus enables fast and efficient screening of wax inhibitors. The multi-place system can test up to six samples at once, greatly reducing test times.
The unit uses a “cold finger” submerged in warm test oil. If the finger is below the wax appearance temperature of the sample the wax will come out of the solution and “stick” to the cooled surface. This wax can then be quantified by weighing and further analysis performed if required.
Wax Flow Loop Testing
The wax flow loop enables wax deposition testing to be performed. A heated oil sample is pumped through a cooled test coil. As the sample cools the wax deposits on the walls of the test coil and the differential pressure across the coil increases. The time taken for this increase in differential pressure is used to perform comparison tests between inhibitor products.
For more information please contact us on info@techboxscientific.com or +44 (0) 1339 755856