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. 2023 Dec 20;10(1):2.
doi: 10.3390/gels10010002.

A Supramolecular Reinforced Gel Fracturing Fluid with Low Permeability Damage Applied in Deep Reservoir Hydraulic Fracturing

Yongping Huang  1   2 , Xinlong Yao  1   2 , Caili Dai  1   2 , Yining Wu  1   2 , Lin Li  2 , Bin Yuan  2
Affiliations

A Supramolecular Reinforced Gel Fracturing Fluid with Low Permeability Damage Applied in Deep Reservoir Hydraulic Fracturing

Yongping Huang et al. Gels. .

Abstract

Gel fracturing fluid is the optimum fracturing fluid for proppant suspension, which is commonly applied in deep reservoir hydraulic fracturing. The content of polymers and crosslinkers in gel fracturing fluid is usually high to meet the needs of high-temperature resistance, leading to high costs and reservoir permeability damage caused by incomplete gel-breaking. In this paper, a supramolecular reinforced gel (SRG) fracturing fluid was constructed by strengthening the supramolecular force between polymers. Compared with single network gel (SNG) fracturing fluid, SRG fracturing fluid could possess high elasticity modulus (G' = 12.20 Pa) at lower polymer (0.4 wt%) and crosslinker (0.1 wt%) concentrations. The final viscosity of SRG fracturing fluid was 72.35 mPa·s, meeting the temperature resistance requirement of gel fracturing fluid at 200 °C. The gel-breaking time could be extended to 90-120 min using an encapsulated gel breaker. Gel particles are formed after the gel fracturing fluid is broken. The median particle size of gel particles in the SRG-breaking solution was 126 nm, which was much smaller than that in the industrial gel (IDG) breaking fluid (587 nm). The damage of the SRG-breaking solution to the core permeability was much less than the IDG-breaking solution. The permeability damage of cores caused by the SRG-breaking solutions was only about half that of IDG-breaking solutions at 1 mD.

Keywords: deep reservoir; gel fracturing fluid; gel-breaking solution; low permeability damage; supramolecular reinforced gel.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 4
Figure 4
Temperature and shear resistance of SRG fracturing fluid (0.4 wt% polymer + 0.1 wt% Zr-crosslinker). Shear rate: 170 s−1.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The conductivity of different gel-breaker solutions. (a) The conductivity varies with time at 25 °C. (b) The conductivity at 600 min (25 °C). (c) The conductivity of Capsule-A. (d) The conductivity of Capsule-B.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Properties of the gel-breaking solutions. (a) Viscosity; (b) particle size distribution; (c) microtopography of the SRG-breaking solution; (d) microtopography of the IDG-breaking solution.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Viscoelasticity of the SNG fracturing fluid (0.4 wt% polymer) at different concentrations of Zr-crosslinker. (a) The G′ with frequency. (b) The G″ with frequency. (c) The G′ and G″ of SNG fracturing fluid at 0.5 Hz.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Viscoelasticity of the SNG fracturing fluid (0.6 wt% polymer) at different concentrations of Zr-crosslinker. (a) The G′ with frequency. (b) The G″ with frequency. (c) The G′ and G″ of SNG fracturing fluid at 0.5 Hz.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Viscoelasticity of the SRG fracturing fluid (0.4 wt% polymer) at different concentrations of Zr-crosslinker. (a) The G′ with frequency. (b) The G″ with frequency. (c) The G′ and G″ of SRG fracturing fluid at 0.5 Hz.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Surface morphology of Capsule-A after being soaked in the water at different temperatures. (a) Untreated. (b) 25 °C. (c) 60 °C. (d) 90 °C.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Surface morphology of Capsule-B after being soaked in water at different temperatures. (a) Untreated. (b) 25 °C. (c) 60 °C. (d) 90 °C.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Micromorphology of the different cores after the permeability damage experiment. (a) 0.1-1; (b) 0.1-2; (c) 1-1; (d) 1-2; (e) 10-1; (f) 10-2.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Schematic diagram of permeability damage experiment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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