J178961 DOI: 10.

2118/178961-PA Date: 21-September-16 Stage: Page: 1 Total Pages: 10

Theoretical and Experimental Study

on Optimal Injection Rates in
Carbonate Acidizing
Kai Dong*, Ding Zhu, and A. Daniel Hill, Texas A&M University

Summary include reservoir temperature, hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentra-

Optimal acid-injection rate is critical information for carbonate- tion, and carbonate-rock types. Acidizing-coreflood experimental
matrix-acidizing design. This rate is currently obtained through fit- results show that increasing temperature can make both the optimal
ting acidizing-coreflood experimental results. A model is needed to acid flux and the corresponding optimal breakthrough pore volumes
predict optimal acid-injection rates for various reservoir conditions. become larger; higher acid concentration results in larger optimal
A wormhole forms when larger pores grow in the cross-sec- acid flux and lower optimal breakthrough pore volumes (Wang
tional area at a rate that greatly exceeds the growth rate of smaller et al. 1993; Bazin 2001). Ziauddin and Bize (2007) studied the
pores caused by surface reaction. This happens when the pore effect of pore-scale heterogeneity on optimal conditions through dif-
growth follows a particular mechanism, which is discussed in this ferent experimental techniques with eight types of carbonate rocks.
paper. We have developed a model to predict wormhole-growth In their study, the relationship between the pore-size distribution
behavior. The model uses the mode size in a pore-size distribu- and the optimal condition of each rock is investigated, on the basis
tion—the pore size that appears most frequently in the distribu- of which the reservoir-rock types are classified. Each reservoir-rock
tion—to predict the growth of the pore. By controlling the acid type has similar acid response. Their systematic study reveals that
velocity inside of it, we can make this particular pore grow much carbonate-rock types have significant effect on optimal conditions.
faster than other smaller pores, thus reaching the most-favorable Other than experiments, different models for predicting opti-
condition for wormholing. This also results in a balance between mal conditions have also been developed.
overall acid/rock reaction and acid flow. With the introduction of a Wang et al. (1993) developed a model by use of the largest
porous-medium model, the acid velocity in the mode-size pore is pores naturally existing in a rock as a parameter for wormhole
scaled up to the interstitial velocity at the wormhole tip. This inter- growth. A transition-pore area was defined and was used to distin-
stitial velocity at the wormhole tip controls the wormhole propaga- guish the growth mechanisms of small pores and large pores. If
tion. The optimal acid-injection rates are then calculated by use of the area of a pore is larger than this transition-pore area, this pore
semiempirical flow correlations for different flow geometries. grows rapidly and a wormhole can form. To some extent, the
The optimal injection rate depends on the rock lithology, acid model can predict the optimal acid-injection rate for linear-core-
concentration, temperature, and rock-pore-size distribution. All flood-acidizing experiments. However, the surface-reaction rate is
these factors are accounted for in this model. The model can pre- used to represent the overall reaction rate in the model, with diffu-
dict the optimal rates of acidizing-coreflood experiments cor- sion rate being ignored. This leads to an incorrect prediction of
rectly, compared with our acidizing-coreflood experimental temperature effect.
results. In addition, on the basis of our model, it is also found that Gong and El-Rabaa (1999) published a correlation to calculate
at optimal conditions, the wormhole-propagation velocity is line- the optimal conditions by use of flow/reaction dimensionless
arly proportional to the acid-diffusion coefficient for a diffusion- numbers. Fundamentally, this model is derived from the model
limited reaction. This is proved both experimentally and theoreti- described by Daccord et al. (1989). They calculated the deriva-
cally in this study. Because there is no flow-geometry constraint tives of the diffusion-limited relationship and made it equal to
while developing this model, it can be applied to field scales. zero. The idea is that the minimum point of a curve has a zero de-
Applications are presented in this paper. rivative. The optimal injection rate calculated from this model is
orders of magnitude smaller than the experimental results.
Introduction Panga et al. (2005) studied different conditions of dissolution
patterns on the basis of the ratio of transverse- to axial-length scales.
Experimental results have shown that the best wormholing effi- They showed that when the transverse/axial-length scales are of the
ciency can be obtained at a certain acid-injection rate. We call this same order, the optimal condition occurs. Furthermore, they studied
the optimal conditions. Extensive work has been performed to study the optimal conditions for kinetically controlled reaction and mass-
this particular condition, both experimentally and theoretically. transport-controlled reaction separately. However, experimental and
Acidizing-coreflood experiments are an important method to theoretical studies have shown that a kinetically controlled reaction
determine the optimal conditions for a specific acid/carbonate sys-
produces uniform dissolution but not wormholing dissolution.
tem. The experimental setup usually consists of a syringe pump,
Fredd and Fogler (1999) studied the effects of transport and
acid/brine accumulators, a coreholder, and a backpressure regula-
reaction on wormholing process by use of a wide range of reactive
tor. Each experiment is performed with a specific acid-injection
fluids. The optimal conditions were identified for low concentra-
rate, and the corresponding breakthrough acid volume is meas-
tions of HCl, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), cyclohexa-
ured. Repeated experiments with different acid-injection rates are
nediaminetetraacetic acid (CDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic
needed to find the optimal condition.
acid (DTPA), and acetic acid, respectively, with Indiana limestone.
Through acidizing-coreflood experiments, several investigators
They defined the Damköhler number as the ratio between the over-
have studied factors that affect the optimal conditions. These factors
all acid-reaction rate at the wormhole wall and the acid-flow rate in
the wormhole. They found that when the Damköhler number equals
* Now with China National Petroleum Corporation 0.29, the optimal condition can be achieved for all the reactive fluids
Copyright V
C 2016 Society of Petroleum Engineers they studied. However, to have this Damköhler number available, a
This paper (SPE 178961) was accepted for presentation at the SPE International pre-existing wormhole diameter and length need to be identified.
Conference and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, 24–26 With more experimental data available today, more physics
February 2016, and revised for publication. Original manuscript received for review 4 March
2016. Revised manuscript received for review 23 July 2016. Paper peer approved 2 August
can be unveiled for wormhole propagation. The development of a
2016. reliable model is possible.

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" !#
1×10–2 evA2p KCp Lp
Slope 22
Slope: w¼ 1  exp  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð5Þ
Pore-Growth Function (cm2/s) 1×10–3 Lp eA2p

1×10–4 The exponential term in Eqs. 2 and 5 denotes the ratio between
Slope: 2/3
Slope 2/3 overall reaction rate and acid-flow rate in a pore, which is the
1×10–5 Damköhler (Da) number. For a small pore, Da is large and the ex-
ponential term is close to zero. The pore-growth function w is
1×10–6
approximated as
1×10–7 Green: ψlarge pore, slope: 2/3 evA2p evA2p
Red: ψsmall pore, slope: 2 wsmall ¼ ð1  0Þ ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð6Þ
1×10–8 Black: ψoverall Lp Lp
1×10–9 For a large pore, Da is small and the exponential term is close
1×10–8 1×10–7 1×10–6 1×10–5 1×10–4 1×10–3 to unity. The pore-growth function w is approximated as
Pore Area (cm2) " !#
evA2p KCp Lp
wlarge ¼ 1 1 ¼ KvCp : . . . . . . . . ð7Þ
Fig. 1—Pore-growth rates for pores with different cross-sec- Lp eA2p
tional areas Ap.
Substituting Eq. 3 into Eq. 7, we have
Theory Development  
eAp 1=3 2=3
Pore Growth. When acid is introduced into a rock, it reacts with wlarge ¼ 1:2819 D v  2prp
rp Lp
the minerals and changes the pore structure. The macroproperties  1=3
such as porosity and permeability of the rock change accordingly. e
To describe this phenomenon, Schechter and Gidley (1969) stud- ¼ 5:5v D2=3 Ap2=3 / Ap2=3 :            ð8Þ
Lp
ied the changes of pore structure and pore-size distribution caused
by surface reaction. They set up a porous-medium model with Notice that, from Eqs. 6 and 8, the pore-growth function for a
pores represented by capillaries distributed randomly. Pore small pore is linearly proportional to A2p ðwsmall / A2p Þ and the
enlargement is described by a pore-growth function. The details pore-growth function for a large pore is linearly proportional to
regarding the porous-medium model are illustrated in Appendix Ap2=3 ðwlarge / Ap2=3 Þ. Fig. 1 shows the plot of pore-growth rate vs.
A. They concluded that it is the larger pores that determine the
pore area. The black solid curve is the plot of Eq. 5; the red
response of rocks to acid attack for high surface-reaction rates,
dashed line is the plot of Eq. 6; and the green dashed line is the
and this response is sensitive to the distribution of these larger
plot of Eq. 8. We can see that there is a transition point that
pores. In general, pore-growth rate—namely, pore-growth func-
divides the curve into two parts, one with a slope of 2 and the
tion w in this paper—can be written as Eq. 1, with n smaller than
1=2 and larger than 1:
other one with a slope of 2=3. The transition-pore area depends on
the magnitude of the Da number.
dAp Whether a wormhole forms depends on how pores grow. If
w¼ ¼ aA1n
p : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ larger pores grow significantly faster than other pores, a worm-
dt
hole forms. This happens when n in Eq. 1 is less than zero. Exam-
w can be written as Eq. 2 by solving a mass-balance equation ples are illustrated in Fig. 2. With identical parameters, we
with acid flowing inside a single pore (Schechter 1992): simulate the pore growth for Eq. 6 (left plot) and Eq. 7 (right
   plot). The simulation finishes when the largest pore area reaches
Ap vv p jCp Lp 10 times its original area. We can see that Eq. 6 predicts that
w¼ 1  exp  ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
Lp v p Ap larger pores grow faster than smaller pores, whereas Eq. 7 predicts
that smaller pores grow much faster than larger pores. Further cal-
where Ap is the cross-sectional area of the pore, Lp is the pore culation shows that when n equals –1 (w!A2), this is the most
length, Cp is the pore perimeter, v p is the average acid velocity in favorable condition for wormholing because the largest pore
the pore, v is the acid volumetric dissolving power, and j is the grows fastest and other smaller pores grow slowest compared
overall acid-reaction-rate coefficient. The overall acid-reaction with other conditions.
rate depends on three individual processes: acid diffusing to the
pore surface, acid reacting with the pore surface, and product dif-
fusing away from the pore surface. In this paper, only the first two Fundamental Explanation for Optimal Conditions. Acids
processes are considered because of the complete reaction always tend to flow into larger pores because of the lower flow re-
between HCl and calcite. The derivation of j and its approxima- sistance in large pores. However, larger pores may not connect to
tion are shown in Appendix B. For reactions between limestones other larger pores inside the rock. As the wormhole is propagat-
and HCl, the surface-reaction rate is normally much larger than ing, these larger pores cannot always be expected at the wormhole
the mass-transfer rate. From Appendix B, the overall reaction-rate tip. Therefore, in this study, we select the mode-size pore in a
coefficient j can be approximated as the mass-transfer rate K: rock as the parameter in the wormhole model. Mode-size pores
  are the pores with the largest frequency in a pore-size distribution
v p 1=3 2=3 (its area is denoted as Ap,mode in this paper). During wormhole
j ¼ K ¼ 1:2819 D ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ propagation, the wormhole tip is more likely to meet this pore
rp Lp
size than any other pore size.
where D is the acid-diffusion coefficient. At any particular time and position, because mode-size pores
To further expand Eq. 2, recall that the average acid velocity are more than any other size of pores, we assume that larger
v p is proportional to the pore cross-sectional area Ap, as described amounts of acids flow into the mode-size pores. To determine the
by Eq. A-6. For consistency, it is brought here as shown by Eq. 4: optimal condition, mode-size pores need to grow much faster than
other pores at wormhole tips. As has been discussed, when pores
v p ¼ eAp ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð4Þ grow on the basis of the relationship of w / A2p , the optimal
wormholing condition is achieved. Therefore, we set the acid-flow
where e is a factor that depends on the pressure gradient and acid rate to a particular value so that the mode-size pore grows on the
viscosity. Substituting Eqs. 3 and 4 into Eq. 2, we determine basis of w / A2p . Being such, all other smaller pores at this position

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12 2,000
10 1,791

9 1,500

Increase Times
Increase Times
6 1,000

2.7
3 500
1.1 1
10 12.2 39.3
0 0
900π 625π 100π π 900π 625π 100π π
Original Pore Area (µm2) Original Pore Area (µm2)

Fig. 2—Pore-area increase because of acid attack for Eq. 6 (left plot) and Eq. 7 (right plot).

also grow on the basis of w / A2p , according to Fig. 1, but the where Atip is the flow cross-sectional area at the wormhole tip. As
mode-size pores grow significantly faster than other smaller pores. stated in Appendix A, the acid velocity across each pore is line-
Mode-pore size is naturally existing for a particular rock, but arly proportional to the pore area by use of Poiseuille’s law. Spe-
the transition-pore size depends on the acid-flow rate and it can be cifically, as we have determined the optimal acid velocity in the
controlled by changing flow velocity according to Eq. 2. To have mode-size pore, we can calculate this proportional coefficient:
this mode-size pore grow on the basis of w / A2p , we can
make the transition-pore size shown in Fig. 1 equal to the mode- v p v p;mode;opt
e¼ ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð16Þ
pore size: Ap Ap;mode

evA2p;mode vAp;mode v p;mode Substituting Eq. 16 into Eq. 15, we can obtain the optimal
wsmall ¼ ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð9Þ acid-flow rate at the wormhole tip, and also the corresponding
Lp;mode Lp;mode
optimal tip acid flux:
wlarge ¼ KvCp;mode : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð10Þ ð1
v p;mode;opt v p;mode;opt
qtip;opt ¼ L p Atip A2p gðAp ÞdAp ¼ L p Atip M2 ;
At the transition point, if we set wsmall equal to wlarge, then Ap;mode 0 Ap;mode
                   ð17Þ
vAp;mode v p;mode
¼ KvCp;mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð11Þ
Lp;mode where M2 is defined as the second moment of the pore-size-den-
sity function and is calculated by use of Eq. 18:
and, thus, ð1
KCp;mode Lp;mode M2 ¼ A2p gðAp ÞdAp : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð18Þ
v p;mode ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð12Þ 0
Ap;mode
The optimal tip acid flux is then calculated as
The average acid velocity for mode-size pores calculated by
Eq. 12 is just large enough to make all pores grow on the basis of qtip;opt v p;mode;opt L p M2
w / A2p at random positions of a rock. The mode-size pores grow vi;tip;opt ¼ ¼  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ð19Þ
Atip / Ap;mode /
much faster than other smaller pores, as shown in the left-hand
plot of Fig. 2. This is the optimal condition of wormhole propaga- As we can see from Eq. 19, the optimal tip acid flux depends
tion. Replacing the notation of Eq. 12, then on acid-flow velocity in the mode-size pore, rock porosity, and
pore-size distribution. The mode-pore size and pore-size distribu-
KCp;mode Lp;mode tion can be obtained together by a single measurement. In this
v p;mode;opt ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð13Þ
Ap;mode study, a microcomputed-tomography (CT) scanner is used to mea-
sure the pore-size distribution, and uses the X-ray attenuation
We can also notice that the Da number is equal to unity at this principle. The sample used is a cube with 1-cm side length. Dur-
particular condition, implying that the amount of acid reacted ing scanning, images are sliced into small samples with 1-cm
with the pore is equal to the amount of acid that is injected into length on each side and 8-mm thickness. On each slice, pores and
the pore. solid can be identified by different CT numbers, which represent
KCp;mode Lp;mode different densities inside the sample. We can import the data set
Da ¼ ¼ 1: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð14Þ produced by the micro-CT scanner to an image-analysis software,
Ap;mode v p;mode;opt
which can count pores pixel by pixel and produce the pore area.
Pixels with small CT numbers are counted as pores, and pixels
with large CT numbers are counted as solid.
Optimal Conditions at Wormhole Tip. To scale up the optimal In this paper, we studied Indiana limestone with 15% porosity
velocity in the mode-size pore to the flow rate in the porous me- and 6-md permeability. The scanned data show that the pore-size
dium, the porous-medium model shown in Appendix A is used. distribution in each slice is close to log-normal distribution. We
The total volumetric-flow rate across a unit-cross-sectional area can write g in the following form:
can be calculated by integrating the volumetric-flow rate in each
" #
pore. Specifically, if we focus on the wormhole-tip flow area, the N ðlnAp  lÞ2
acid-flow rate at the wormhole tip is gðAp Þ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  ; . . . . . . . . . . . ð20Þ
ð1 ð1 Ap r 2p 2r2
qtip ¼ v p Ap L p Atip gðAp ÞdAp ¼ L p Atip v p Ap gðAp ÞdAp ; where l is the mean value of ln(Ap), r2 is the variance of ln(Ap),
0 0
and N is a multiplier. We can determine l and r2 directly from
                   ð15Þ the measurement data. In this study, l is determined as –9.2 and

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2.0×1008 After pore-size distribution is determined, M2 can be

Number of Pores per Unit Volume
calculated:
ð1 " #
1.6×1008 2 N ðlnA  lÞ2
M2 ¼ A  pffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  dA
0 Ar 2p 2r2

1.2×1008 ¼ Nexp½2ðl þ r2 Þ:                     ð23Þ

Substituting M2 into Eq. 19, we can obtain the optimal acid in-
8.0×1007 terstitial velocity at the wormhole tip. The calculation is shown in
Appendix C. The model is validated with the experimental
observations.
4.0×1007 As discussed in the Introduction, the rock-pore-size distribu-
tion affects the optimal conditions in an acidizing treatment, as
shown by recent studies (Ziauddin and Bize 2007; Zakaria et al.
0.0×1000 2015). In our study, the effect of pore-size distribution on optimal
1 10 100 1,000 conditions is incorporated into the M2 calculation. Different rocks
Pore Radius (µm) produce different M2 values, leading to different optimal acid
fluxes at the wormhole tip. In this way, the effect of rock-pore-
Fig. 3—Pore-size distribution for Indiana limestone studied. size distribution on optimal conditions can be quantified.

r2 is 1.3. According to the nature of log-normal distribution, Experimental Study

the mode-pore radius is equal to exp(l–r2), which is calculated as Acidizing-Coreflood Experiments. To test the prediction of our
30 mm. The multiplier N is determined so that the porosity calcu- model, acidizing-coreflood experiments were performed to obtain
lated by Eq. A-2 equals the measured porosity. With log-normal the optimal conditions for comparison. The experimental appara-
distribution, the porosity is integrated as tus is shown in Fig. 4. It comprises a syringe pump, brine/acid
ð1 " # accumulators, a coreholder, and a pressure-monitoring system. A
N ðlnA  lÞ2 backpressure regulator is used to maintain 1,500-psi pressure at
/ ¼ Lp A  pffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  dA
0 Ar 2p 2r2 the outlet of the core so that the produced carbon dioxide is dis-
  solved in the fluid. Indiana limestone with 15% porosity and 6-md
r2
¼ L p Nexp l þ ;                     ð21Þ permeability is used, as in the micro-CT-scanning experiment.
2 The core dimension is selected as 1.5-in. diameter and 8-in. length
to eliminate the core-geometry effect (Dong et al. 2014). The
where L p is taken as 10 times the mode-pore radius on the basis
experiments were performed with 15 wt% of HCl at room temper-
of the micro-CT image characterization. With other parameters
ature. During the experiment, brine is injected first to measure the
being known, N can be determined. The pore-size distribution for
core permeability. Next, acid is injected and the pressure drop
our sample is determined as Eq. 22, and is plotted in Fig. 3.
across the core decreases when wormholes start propagating.
  When the pressure drop becomes nearly zero, the wormhole
25834 1
gðAp Þ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  ðlnAp þ 9:2Þ2 : . . . . . ð22Þ breaks through the core. Brine is then injected to flush the system.
1:14 2pAp 2:6
The confining pressure around the sleeve inside the coreholder is

Brine Acid
accumulator accumulator
N2
Core holder

Hydraulic oil Nitrogen

Brine Engine oil
Electric wire Air

Fig. 4—Acidizing-coreflood experimental setup.

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10 Discussions on Model Application

Data fit

Breakthrough PV (dimensionless)
Experimental data Prediction of Optimal Conditions for Acidizing-Coreflood
Experiments. To calculate the optimal acid flux for an acidizing
experiment, a correlation is needed to couple the tip flux and
core-surface flux. Furui et al. (2010) developed a linear-flow cor-
relation for it, as shown in Eq. 26, together with the breakthrough-
PV relationship:
1
dwh
vi ¼ vi;tip ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð26Þ
dcore
Indiana limestone
1.5-in. diameter by 8-in. length dwh
Average porosity: 15% PVbt ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð27Þ
Average permeability: 6 md
dcore Nac
15 wt% of HCl at 75ºF
0.1 The wormhole diameter dwh is introduced for these hydrody-
0.1 1 10 namic relationships. It can be calculated through acid loss into
Interstitial Velocity (cm/min) surrounding pores. Hung (1987) studied the wormhole-diameter
growth on the basis of acid/rock mass balance:
Fig. 5—Wormholing-efficiency relationship for Indiana lime-  
stone studied. 2 qloss Cwall
rwh  rp2 ¼ Nac ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð28Þ
/p C0
always maintained at 500 psi more than the injection pressure so 2pkDp
that the fluid does not flow through the annulus between the core qloss ¼   : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð29Þ
rcore
and the sleeve. The pore volume (PV) to breakthrough is calcu- lln
rp
lated by the ratio of the volume of acid injected to the PV.
The wormhole-tip diameter is calculated as 0.0176 cm. Substi-
Experimental Results. The experimental results (red dots) are tuting the parameters that are known into Eqs. 26 and 27, vi,opt is
shown in Fig. 5, together with the wormholing-efficiency relation- calculated as 1.86 cm/min and PVbt,opt is calculated as 0.321. The
ship (black curve) fitted with the Buijse and Glasbergen (2005) calculated values are close to the experimental ones.
model. Each red dot represents a single experimental result. By
varying acid-injection rates, we can determine different break-
through PVs. On the basis of the curve fitting, the vi,opt is 1.98 cm/ Effect of Temperature. Provided the rock-pore properties and
min and PVbt,opt is 0.367. pore-size distribution are given, the model developed can be used
The experiments produce the optimal flux and breakthrough to calculate the optimal conditions. Meanwhile, for the same rock,
PV. Furthermore, we can also calculate the experimental optimal this model can also be used to study the sensitivity of different pa-
tip flux. In a linear-coreflood-acidizing experiment, the average rameters. In this subsection, we derive a correlation that describes
wormhole-propagation velocity is equal to the ratio between acid- the temperature effect on the optimal conditions. Temperature
interstitial velocity and breakthrough PV. It can be reasonably affects both surface-reaction and mass-transfer processes. Gener-
assumed that the instantaneous-wormhole-propagation velocity is ally, increasing temperature results in exponential increases of
equal to the average at the optimal condition for an 8-in.-long surface-reaction rate and mass-transfer rate. Further analysis
core because a stable fluid-loss profile is established very quickly: shows that surface reactivity has a much-stronger dependence on
temperature than the diffusivity. We can see from Fig. 6 that as
vi;opt temperature increases from 70 to 280 F, the surface reactivity
vwh;opt ¼ v wh;opt ¼ ¼ 5:395 cm=min: . . . . . . . . ð24Þ
PVbt;opt increases 1,456 times, whereas the acid diffusivity increases only
4.8 times. The surface reactivity is calculated by use of the work
At optimal conditions in an acidizing experiment, full acid of Lund et al. (1975), and the acid diffusivity is calculated by use
concentration at the wormhole tip is generally maintained (Furui of the work of Conway et al. (1999).
et al. 2010). The wormhole-propagation velocity is linearly pro- If we calculate the ratio between two optimal interstitial veloc-
portional to the tip acid flux, with acid capacity number as the ities at two different temperatures by use of Eq. 26, with substitu-
proportional coefficient (Hung et al. 1989): tion of parameters from Eqs. 13, 19, 27, and B-2, we can obtain a
new correlation for diffusion-limited reactions:
vwh;opt 5:395 cm=min
vi;tip;opt ¼ ¼ ¼ 6:24 cm=s: . . . . . ð25Þ vi;optT1 DT1 PVbt;optT1
Nac 0:0144 ¼  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð30Þ
vi;optT2 DT2 PVbt;optT2
The optimal tip flux from our model is calculated as 6.68 cm/s
(Appendix C), which is close to the experimental result. Once the To verify Eq. 30, we summarized previous acidizing-coreflood
model for optimal tip flux is verified, we can apply this model to experimental results at different temperatures. The optimal condi-
different flow geometries, linear flow for acidizing-coreflood tions are identified and summarized in Table 1, which shows the
experiment, and radial flow for field treatment. rock type, acid concentration, experiment temperature, optimal

100 2.0x10–4
EfC0m –1 (cm/s)

10 1.5x10–4
D (cm2/s)

1 1.0x10–5

0.1 5.0x10–5

0.01 0.0x100
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300
Temperature (°F) Temperature (°F)

Fig. 6—Temperature effect on surface reactivity for 15 wt% of HCl and calcite (left) and on diffusivity (right).

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Table 1—Optimal conditions summarized from published coreflood-acidizing experimental results. Source I is Wang et al. (1993); Source II
is Bazin (2001); Source III is Fredd and Fogler (1999); Source IV is Furui et al. (2010).

conditions from the Buijse and Glasbergen (2005) model fitting, linearly proportional to the acid-diffusion coefficient for a diffu-
and the acid-diffusion coefficient. The original data do not show sion-limited reaction.
the rock-pore properties, so we cannot calculate the optimal con-
ditions through our model. However, we calculated the ratios vwh;optT1 DT1
¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð31Þ
between two optimal conditions from the same data source to vwh;optT2 DT2
eliminate the effect of other parameters, such as rock-pore-size
distribution, core geometry, and acid concentration. If we com- Furthermore, we can substitute Eq. 25 into Eq. 31 and obtain
pare the optimal acid flux for Lavoux limestone between 122 and another correlation in Eq. 32. At optimal conditions, the optimal
176 F, the ratio on the left-hand side of Eq. 30 is 2.29 and the ra- tip acid flux is linearly proportional to the acid-diffusion coeffi-
tio on the right-hand side of Eq. 30 is 2.20. We can see that the cient for a diffusion-limited reaction. This correlation can be used
experimental results are close to the model-calculated results. We as a guide for carbonate-acidizing design:
made similar calculations for the rest of the experimental results vi;tip;optT1 DT1
and plotted this in Fig. 7. The x-axis is the left-hand side of Eq. ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ð32Þ
30 and the y-axis is the right-hand side of Eq. 30. The red line vi;tip;optT2 DT2
with slope of unity means the two sides are equal. The black dots We can see how acid diffusion affects the optimal conditions
represent the values calculated by use of the experimental data in of limestones, and can decrease the optimal injection rate by low-
Table 1. Except for one outlier, the dots are distributed along the ering acid-diffusion rates. In this way, acid can penetrate greater
red line. The trend line of the data set without the outlier is shown distances into the formation, and greater stimulation results can
by the green dashed line in Fig. 7. This line is almost overlapping be achieved (Hoefner and Fogler 1987).
with the red line. Through regression analysis, we obtain the slope Different types of limestone have different optimal tip acid
of 0.99 with the coefficient of determination as 0.81. This means fluxes because of different pore structures, but their reactions with
the two sides of Eq. 30 are approximately equal. HCl are all diffusion-limited. For a particular limestone forma-
In summary, Eq. 30 is able to describe the effect of tempera- tion, once we have determined its optimal tip flux at a certain tem-
ture on optimal conditions for HCl and limestones. If we substi- perature, we can use Eq. 32 to generate an optimal tip acid-flux
tute Eq. 24 into Eq. 30, we can obtain another correlation in Eq. curve for varying temperatures, as shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8 shows
31. At optimal conditions, the wormhole-propagation velocity is that the optimal tip acid flux increases with increasing tempera-
ture, and the dependence is the same as that of the acid-diffusion
3.5 coefficient. The reference optimal tip flux, while generating Fig.
8, can be either directly calculated from Eq. 19 or calculated from
Eqs. 24 and 25 on the basis of acidizing-coreflood results. How-
3 ever, Eq. 19 is preferred because it can eliminate the need of acid-
izing-coreflood experiments.
2.5
(PVbt*D)T 1/(PVbt*D)T 2

70.0
2
60.0
1.5 y = 0.99x
vi,tip,opt (ft/min)

50.0
R ² = 0.81
40.0
1
30.0

0.5 20.0
10.0
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.0
0 100 200 300
vi,opt-T1/vi,opt-T2 Temperature (T )

Fig. 7—Plot of Eq. 30 (red line) and ratios between optimal con- Fig. 8—Optimal tip flux vs. temperature for Indiana limestone.
ditions at two temperatures (black dots). The reference value is from Eq. 25.

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Optimal pumping rate

60 Maximal pumping rate

Acid-Pumping Rate (bbl/min)

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40
Elapsed Time (minutes)
Table 2—Acidizing-field-treatment-design parameters.
Fig. 9—Optimal acid-pumping rate and maximal pumping rate
for a given amount of acid.
Eq. 32 and Fig. 8 provide a method to quantify the temperature
effect on the optimal conditions. If a well penetrates two lime- with wormhole-penetration length equal to the wellbore radius.
stone formations with similar pore structure but different tempera- The iterations end when the maximal pumping rate is reached,
tures, the acid-pumping rate can be adjusted on the basis of Eq. and this rate is kept constant until all acid is used. The reservoir
32. Also, when we design new acid systems with HCl as the base and acid properties are shown in Table 2.
acid, we can adjust the diffusion coefficient of HCl in the new The simulated-acid-pumping schedule is illustrated in Fig. 9.
system to obtain our desired treatment results. The pumping rate ramps up with time from 8.5 to 52.5 bbl/min, as
shown by the solid line. As a comparison, if we pump acid by use
Hypothetical Case Study for an Optimized Acid-Pumping of the maximal pumping rate, these amounts of acid can only last
Schedule. The flow geometries in the field are typically radial approximately 18 minutes, as shown by the dashed line. During
flow and spherical flow during acidizing treatments (Furui et al. the wormhole propagation, the acid flux at the wormhole tip is
2010). Unlike acidizing-coreflood experiments, acid-pumping rate always larger than the optimal flux at the wormhole tip. The
needs to increase continuously to compensate the increasing acid wormholing efficiency is on the right-hand side of Fig. 5. Conse-
loss and acid-concentration loss. To propagate a wormhole most quently, additional acid is lost into the formation and wasted on
efficiently, an optimal wormhole-tip interstitial velocity with full creating little branches along the dominant wormhole. The ulti-
acid strength needs to be maintained. This optimal wormhole-tip mate wormhole length by optimal pumping rate is approximately
interstitial velocity depends on acid/rock properties only, so it is 1.6 times the length by the maximal pumping rate.
general for both core scale and field scale.
In this subsection, we developed an optimized acid-pumping Conclusions
schedule for field treatments by use of our model. A hypothetical This paper presents a model to calculate the optimal conditions of
case for acidizing a horizontal well with multiple openhole com- carbonate acidizing. This model focuses on the optimal acid flux
pletion stages is investigated. Acid is pumped to each stage at the wormhole tip and scaling it up to acidizing-coreflood
separately. experiments and field treatments. A diagram (Fig. 10) is shown to
We used Eq. 19 to calculate the optimal acid tip flux (we can streamline the usage of this model.
also use Eqs. 24 and 25 if optimal conditions from experiments By use of this model, the effect of temperature on optimal con-
are available). The correlation to couple the tip acid flux and ditions was studied. A new method to make use of laboratory-
pumping rate is developed by Furui et al. (2010) through finite- acidizing results for field treatment was also developed. Finally,
element-method simulation: an optimized acid-pumping schedule is developed for acidizing
"  # field treatment. The conclusions of this study can be summarized
q 1 1 as the following.
vi;tip ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1  az Þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ az ;
/h pmwh de;wh rwh de;wh 1. A model for optimal acid flux at the wormhole tip is devel-
oped. This flux governs wormhole propagation. Because it is
                   ð33Þ general to flow geometries, it solely depends on the pore-size
distribution and the acid/rock reaction.
where mwh is the wormhole number in a horizontal plane, which
2. By upscaling the optimal tip flux to linear flow, this model can
is assumed as six in this case, and az denotes wormhole axial
predict the optimal conditions for acidizing-coreflood experi-
spacing and is taken as 0.75. The calculation involves timestep
ments correctly.
iterations. Within each timestep, the wormhole-penetration length
3. For fully diffusion-limited reactions, the average/instantaneous
is calculated and the corresponding pumping rate is then calcu-
optimal wormhole-propagation velocity is linearly proportional
lated by use of Eq. 33. The first iteration starts from the wellbore,
to the acid-diffusion coefficient, and so is the optimal tip acid
flux.
Optimal acid velocity in the mode-size pore
4. The acid-pumping rate should be increased during the field
treatment to compensate for acid loss and concentration
decrease. The optimized acidizing-treatment schedule results
in a larger productivity increase than pumping acids at the
Optimal acid flux at the wormhole tip
maximal rate.

Nomenclature
Ap ¼ pore cross-sectional area, mm2
Linear flow: acidizing- Radial and spherical Ap,mode ¼ cross-sectional area of the pore with the mode size,
coreflood experiment flow: field treatment
mm2
Atip ¼ wormhole-tip-flow area, mm2
Fig. 10— Model diagram. C0 ¼ bulk acid concentration, g mol/cm3

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Cs ¼ acid concentration at pore surface, g mol/cm3 Conway, M. W., Asadi, M., Penny, G. S. et al. 1999. A Comparative Study
Ctip ¼ acid concentration at wormhole tip, g mol/cm3 of Straight/Gelled/Emulsified Hydrochloric Acid Diffusivity Coeffi-
Cwall ¼ acid concentration at wormhole wall, g mol/cm3 cient Using Diaphragm Cell and Rotating Disk. Presented at the SPE
dcore ¼ core diameter, in. Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 3–6 October.
dwh ¼ wormhole diameter, mm SPE-56532-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/56532-MS.
D ¼ diffusion coefficient, cm2/s Daccord, G., Touboul, E., and Lenormand, R. 1989. Carbonate Acidizing:
Da ¼ Damköhler number, dimensionless Toward a Quantitative Model of the Wormholing Phenomenon. SPE
Ef ¼ surface-reaction-rate constant, g mol1–n cm3n2 s–1 Res Eng 4 (1): 63–68. SPE-16887-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/
K ¼ acid-mass-transfer coefficient, cm/s 16887-PA.
Lp,mode ¼ length of the pore with the mode-pore radius, mm Dong, K., Jin, X., Zhu, D. et al. 2014. The Effect of Core Dimensions on
the Optimal Acid Flux in Carbonate Acidizing. Presented at the SPE
Lp ¼ average pore length of porous medium, mm
International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage Con-
M1 ¼ first-moment solution, cm–1
trol, Lafayette, Louisiana, 26–28 February. SPE-168146-MS. http://
M2 ¼ second-moment solution, cm
dx.doi.org/10.2118/168146-MS.
N ¼ number of pores per unit volume of porous medium,
Fredd, C. N. and Fogler, H. S. 1999. Optimal Conditions for Wormhole
1/cm3
Formation in Carbonate Porous Media: Influence of Transport and
Np ¼ number of pores
Reaction. SPE J. 4 (3): 196–205. SPE-56995-PA. http://dx.doi.org/
Nac ¼ acid capacity number, dimensionless
10.2118/56995-PA.
PVbt ¼ breakthrough PV, dimensionless
Furui, K., Burton, R. C., Burkhead, D. W. et al. 2010. A Comprehensive
PVbt,opt ¼ breakthrough PV at optimal conditions,
Model of High-Rate Matrix Acid Stimulation for Long Horizontal
dimensionless
Wells in Carbonate Reservoirs. Presented at the SPE Annual Technical
q ¼ flow rate, cm3/s
Conference and Exhibition, Florence, Italy, 19–22 September. SPE-
qtip ¼ acid-flow rate at wormhole tip, cm3/s
134265-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/134265-MS.
rp ¼ pore radius, mm
Gong, M. and El-Rabaa, A. M. 1999. Quantitative Model of Wormholing
t ¼ time, seconds
Process in Carbonate Acidizing. Presented at the SPE Mid-Continent
vi ¼ interstitial velocity, cm/s
Operations Symposium, Oklahoma City, 28–31 March. SPE-52165-
vi,opt ¼ optimal interstitial velocity, cm/s
MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/52165-MS.
vi,tip ¼ interstitial velocity at wormhole tip, cm/s
Hoefner, M. L. and Fogler, H. S. 1987. Role of Acid Diffusion in Matrix
vi,tip,opt ¼ interstitial velocity at wormhole tip at optimal con-
Acidizing of Carbonates. J Pet Technol 39 (2): 203–208. SPE-13564-
ditions, cm/s
PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/13564-PA.
vp ¼ average acid velocity in a pore, cm/s
Hung, K. M. 1987. Modeling of Wormhole Behavoir in Carbonate
v p; mode ¼ average acid velocity in the mode-size pore, cm/s
Acidizing. PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, Austin,
v p; mode; opt ¼ average acid velocity in the mode-size pore at opti-
Texas.
mal conditions, cm/s
Hung, K. M., Hill, A. D. and Sepehrnoori, K. 1989. A Mechanistic Model
vwh ¼ wormhole-propagation velocity, cm/s
of Wormhole Growth in Carbonate Matrix Acidizing and Acid Frac-
vwh,opt ¼ wormhole-propagation velocity at optimal condi-
turing. J Pet Technol 41 (1): 59–66. SPE-16886-PA. http://dx.doi.org/
tions, cm/s
10.2118/16886-PA.
w2 ¼ flow area, cm2
Levich, V. G. 1962. Physicochemical Hydrodynamics. Englewood Cliffs,
Dp ¼ pressure drop, psi
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Cp ¼ pore perimeter, mm
Lund, K., Fogler, H. S., Mccune, C. C. et al. 1975. Acidization—II. The
e ¼ flow coefficient in the Hagen-Poiseuille equation,
Dissolution of Calcite in Hydrochloric Acid. Chem. Eng. Sci. 30 (8):
cm1.s1
825–835. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0009-2509(75)80047-9.
g ¼ pore-size-density function, 1/cm5
Panga, M. K. R., Ziauddin, M., and Balakotaiah, V. 2005. Two-Scale
j ¼ overall reaction-rate coefficient, cm/s
Continuum Model for Simulation of Wormholes in Carbonate Acidiza-
l ¼ viscosity, mPas
tion. AIChE J. 51 (12): 3231–3248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/
v ¼ acid volumetric dissolving power, volume rock/vol-
aic.10574.
ume acid
Schechter, R. S. 1992. Oil Well Stimulation. Englewood Cliffs, New Jer-
w¼ pore-growth function, cm2/s
sey: Prentice-Hall.
Schechter, R. S. and Gidley, J. L. 1969. The Change in Pore Size Distribu-
Subscripts tion from Surface Reactions in Porous Media. AIChE J. 15 (3):
mode ¼ mode-pore size 339–350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aic.690150309.
opt ¼ optimal condition Wang, Y., Hill, A. D., and Schechter, R. S. 1993. The Optimal Injection
p¼ pore Rate for Matrix Acidizing of Carbonate Formations. Paper presented
tip ¼ wormhole tip at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston,
wh ¼ wormhole 3–6 October. SPE-26578-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/26578-MS.
Zakaria, A. S., Nasr-El-Din, H. A., and Ziauddin, M. 2015. Predicting the
Performance of the Acid-Stimulation Treatments in Carbonate Reser-
Acknowledgments voirs with Nondestructive Tracer Tests. SPE J. 20 (6): 1238–1253.
The authors are thankful for the financial support of the Acid SPE-174084-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/174084-PA.
Stimulation Research Project and the experimental facility sup- Ziauddin, M. E. and Bize, E. 2007. The Effect of Pore-Scale Heterogene-
port of the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at ities on Carbonate Stimulation Treatments. Presented at the SPE Mid-
Texas A&M University. dle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Manama, Bahrain, 11–14
March. SPE-104627-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/104627-MS.

References
Bazin, B. 2001. From Matrix Acidizing to Acid Fracturing: A Laboratory
Appendix A—Porous-Medium Model
Evaluation of Acid/Rock Interactions. SPE Prod & Fac 16 (1): 22–29. In the porous-medium model of this study, pores are described as
SPE-66566-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/66566-PA. randomly distributed capillaries in a rock, with an average pore
Buijse, M. A. and Glasbergen, G. 2005. A Semiempirical Model to Calcu- length L p . Fluids can flow from one pore to another with a certain
late Wormhole Growth in Carbonate Acidizing. Presented at the SPE pressure drop. A pore-size-density function g(Ap) is defined so that
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, 9–12 October. g(Ap)VdAp denotes the number of pores with an area between Ap
SPE-96892-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/96892-MS. and ApþdAp ,with an average pore length L p in the volume V. For

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example, if attention is focused on a certain group of pores in a po- Substituting Eq. B-3 into either side of Eq. B-1, we can obtain
rous medium with volume of w2Dx and with an area between Ap1 an overall reaction-rate equation and overall reaction-rate
and Ap2, then the number of pores in the group is coefficient:
ð Ap2
r ¼ jC0 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðB-4Þ
Np ¼ w2 DxgðAp ÞdAp : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-1Þ
Ap1
KEf Cm1
0
j¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðB-5Þ
On the basis of the pore-size-density function, porosity is the K þ Ef Cm1
0
summation of each PV in a unit volume of porous medium, and is
described by Eq. A-2: In Eq. B-5, if K  Ef Cm1 0 , the surface-reaction rate is low
ð1 and is the limiting step of the overall reaction. In this case,
/ ¼ Lp Ap gðAp ÞdAp ¼ L p M1 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-2Þ j ¼ Ef Cm1
0 . If K  Ef Cm1
0 , the diffusion rate is low and is the
0 limiting step of the overall reaction. In this case, j ¼ K.
where M1 is defined as the first moment of the pore-size-density
function and is calculated by use of Eq. A-3. It is related to the Appendix C—Calculation Example of the
mean value of the pore sizes. Optimal Tip Flux
ð1 The optimal tip flux depends on the acid/rock reaction and the
M1 ¼ Ap gðAp ÞdAp : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-3Þ rock-pore-size distribution. In this study, the reaction is for 15
0 wt% of HCl and calcite at 75 F; the pore-size distribution is for
Indiana limestone. The detailed inputs are shown in Table C-1.
The volumetric-flow rate can be calculated by summing the The calculation starts from calculating the optimal acid veloc-
volume flowing through each pore across the flow area w2: ity in the mode-size pore, v p; mode; opt . Several iterations should be
ð1 ð1 taken because the overall reaction-rate coefficient also depends on
q¼ v p Ap L p w2 gðAp ÞdAp ¼ L p w2 v p Ap gðAp ÞdAp : this velocity. Assuming an initial v p of 3 cm/s, the first iteration is
0 0 shown through Eqs. C-1, C-2, and C-3.
                   ðA-4Þ  1=3
vp
Among all the pores in a cross-sectional area, the acid-flow K ¼ 1:2819 D2=3
rp;mode Lp;mode
rate for each individual pore is distributed by use of the Poiseuille  1=3
law, as is the acid-flow velocity: 3 cm=s
¼ 1:2819
30  104 cm  300  104 cm
pr 4 Dp 1 Dp 2
qp ¼  ¼ A ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-5Þ  ð3:5  105 cm2 =sÞ2=3 ¼ 0:044 cm=s;
8l l 8pl L p p       ðC-1Þ
qp 1 Dp KEf Cm1
0 0:044 cm=s  0:0381 cm=s
vp ¼ ¼ Ap ¼ eAp : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-6Þ j¼ m1
¼ ¼ 0:021 cm=s;
Ap 8pl L p K þ E f C0 0:044 cm=s þ 0:0381 cm=s
                   ðC-2Þ
Substituting Eq. A-6 into Eq. A-4, the fluid-flow rate through
flow area w2 is jCp;mode Lp;mode
v p;mode;opt ¼
ð1 Ap;mode
q ¼ eL p w2 A2p gðAp ÞdAp ¼ eL p w2 M2 ; . . . . . . . . . . ðA-7Þ 0:021 cm=s  ð2p  30  104 cmÞ  300  104 cm
0 ¼
pð30  104 cmÞ2
where M2 is defined as the second moment of the pore-size-den-
sity function, as shown by Eq. A-8: ¼ 0:42 cm=s:                    ðC-3Þ
ð1
The second iteration starts from v p ¼ 0.42 cm/s. The same
M2 ¼ A2p gðAp ÞdAp : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðA-8Þ steps are repeated to obtain the new K, j, and v p; mode; opt . The iter-
0
ation finishes when the newly calculated value is close to the one
calculated in the previous iteration. In this study, the final
Appendix B—Heterogeneous Reaction v p; mode; opt is calculated as 0.26 cm/s in the fourth iteration.
Between Acids and Rocks With pore-size distribution available, M2 can be calculated as
When the chemical reaction in the diffusional-boundary layer is at
M2 ¼ Nexp½2ðl þ r2 Þ ¼ 25834  exp½2ð9:2 þ 1:3Þ
steady state, the rate of acid diffusing to the pore surface is equal
to the rate of surface reaction: ¼ 3:55  103 cm:                    ðC-4Þ

KðC0  Cs Þ ¼ Ef Cm1
0 Cs ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðB-1Þ The optimal tip flux is calculated through Eq. 19.

where K is the mass-transfer coefficient, C0 is the bulk acid con-

centration, Cs is acid concentration at the pore surface, Ef is the
surface-reaction-rate constant, and m is the reaction order. For a
convection-reaction process, the mass-transfer coefficient K can
be calculated as (Levich 1962)
 
v p 1=3 2=3
K ¼ 1:2819 D : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðB-2Þ
rp Lp

The surface acid concentration Cs is difficult to determine and

can be reduced through Eq. B-1:
KC0
Cs ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ðB-3Þ
K þ Ef Cm1
0 Table C-1—Input parameters for optimal tip-flux calculation.

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v p;mode;opt L p M2 0:26 cm=s master’s and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from the
vi;tip;opt ¼ ¼ University of Texas at Austin.
Ap;mode / 2:827  105 cm2
0:03 cm  3:55  103 cm A. Daniel Hill is department head, professor, and holder of the
 ¼ 6:68 cm=s: Stephen A. Holditch Department Head’s Chair in Petroleum
0:15 Engineering in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum En-
                   ðC-5Þ gineering at Texas A&M University. Hill joined the faculty at
Texas A&M University in 2004. Previously, he taught for 22 years
at the University of Texas at Austin after spending 5 years in
Kai Dong is a production engineer at China National Petro- industry. Hill is an expert in the areas of production engineer-
leum Corporation (CNPC) in Beijing, working on southwest ing, well completions, well stimulation, production logging,
China shale reservoirs. Before joining CNPC, he worked as a and complex well performance (horizontal and multilateral
production technologist with Baker Hughes, Houston. Dong’s wells), and has presented lectures and courses and has con-
specialties and research interests include well stimulation in all sulted on these topics throughout the world. He is the author
kinds of reservoirs, well-performance optimization, and gen- of the SPE monograph Production Logging: Theoretical and In-
eral production engineering. He is an active SPE member. terpretive Elements; coauthor of the textbook Petroleum Pro-
Dong holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering duction Systems, first and second editions; coauthor of the SPE
from China University of Petroleum, Beijing, and master’s book Multilateral Wells; author of more than 180 technical
and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from Texas papers; and holder of five patents. Hill has been an SPE Distin-
A&M University. guished Lecturer, has served on numerous SPE committees,
and was the founding chair of the SPE Austin Section. He was
Ding Zhu is a professor in the Petroleum Engineering Depart- named a Distinguished Member of SPE in 1999, received the
ment at Texas A&M University. Her research areas are produc- SPE Production and Operations Award in 2008, was one of the
tion engineering, well stimulation, intelligent-well modeling, first two recipients of the SPE Pipeline Award in 2012, received
and complex-well performance optimization. Zhu is an author the SPE Gulf Coast Regional Distinguished Achievement
of more than 150 technical papers; a coauthor of the text- Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty in 2013, and
book Petroleum Production Systems, second edition; and a received the SPE John Franklin Carll Award in 2014. Hill cur-
coauthor of the SPE book Multilateral Wells. She is an SPE Distin- rently serves on the SPE Editorial Review Committee and the
guished Member; has been a committee member and chair- SPE Global Training Committee, and he is a member of the
person for many conferences and events with SPE; and is SPE Board of Directors, where he serves as the first Director for
currently an associate editor for SPE Production & Operations. Academia. Hill holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M Uni-
Zhu holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering versity and master’s and PhD degrees from the University of
from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, and Texas at Austin, all in chemical engineering.

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