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Gels
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Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications
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Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 23128

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Qing You

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Interests: gel; conformance control; temporary plugging; enhanced oil recovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Guang Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qindao 266580, China
Interests: profile control; water shutoff; chemical materials; enhanced oil recovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xindi Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Physics and Engineering Department, College of Health, Engineering and Science, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA
Interests: gel conformance control; CO2 EOR; CO2 sequestration; chemical EOR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is focused on the application of gels in oil and gas fields to improve hydrocarbon recovery. A broad range of topics will be discussed, including but not limited to field application cases, novel gel development, experimental evaluation of gel performance for conformance control, fracturing, lab- and field-scale numerical simulations, etc. 

Gels, such as in-situ gels and preformed particle gels, have been widely used in the oil and gas industry to control excess water production and gas channeling, which contributes significantly to improving hydrocarbon recovery. Based on different application conditions, many novel gels have been developed. The evaluation of the novel gels is crucial since the properties of some polymers can be altered under high temperatures, high salinity, or high CO2 conditions. In addition, due to the complexity of the reservoirs, some gels may perform differently in the field than in the lab. In this case, the experiences gained from field application studies are very valuable for future gel development, evaluation, and application. As a cost-effective method, numerical simulation is used widely in the oil and gas industry to simulate gel treatment, analyze production data, and predict future production after gel treatment. Any studies related to gels for oil and gas field applications can advance the understanding of the gel performance in porous media and large channels, which is of significant importance to the oil and gas industry. 

We look forward to the submission of new studies on gel development or gel application in the oil and gas industry. Submissions of experimental or field studies are welcomed.

Note: If you are unable to meet the current submission deadline, please consider our Volume II:
Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications (2nd Edition)

Dr. Qing You
Dr. Guang Zhao
Dr. Xindi Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • development of novel gels
  • conformance control of gels
  • fracturing of gels
  • chemical EOR of gels
  • field application of gels

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 179 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial on Special Issue “Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications”
by Qing You, Guang Zhao and Xindi Sun
Gels 2022, 8(8), 513; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8080513 - 18 Aug 2022
Viewed by 892
Abstract
This Special Issue includes many advanced high-quality papers that focus on gel applications in the oil and gas industry [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

16 pages, 3944 KiB  
Article
A New Compound Staged Gelling Acid Fracturing Method for Ultra-Deep Horizontal Wells
by Yang Wang, Yu Fan, Tianyu Wang, Jiexiao Ye and Zhifeng Luo
Gels 2022, 8(7), 449; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8070449 - 18 Jul 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1450
Abstract
Carbonate gas reservoirs in Sichuan are deeply buried, high temperature and strong heterogeneity. Staged acid fracturing is an effective means to improve production. Staged acidizing fracturing of ultra-deep horizontal wells faces the following problems: 1. Strong reservoir heterogeneity leads to the difficulty of [...] Read more.
Carbonate gas reservoirs in Sichuan are deeply buried, high temperature and strong heterogeneity. Staged acid fracturing is an effective means to improve production. Staged acidizing fracturing of ultra-deep horizontal wells faces the following problems: 1. Strong reservoir heterogeneity leads to the difficulty of fine segmentation; 2. The horizontal well section is long and running too many packers increases the completion risk; 3. Under high temperatures, the reaction speed between acid and rock is rapid and the acid action distance is short; and 4. The fracture conductivity is low under high-closure stress. In view of the above problems, the optimal fracture spacing is determined through productivity simulation. The composite temporary plugging of fibers and particles can increase the plugging layer pressure to 17.9 MPa, which can meet the requirements of the staged acid fracturing of horizontal wells. Through the gelling acid finger characteristic simulation and conductivity test, it is clear that the crosslinked authigenic acid and gelling acid in the Sichuan carbonate gas reservoir are injected alternately in three stages. When the proportion of gelling acid injected into a single section is 75% and the acid strength is 1.6 m3/m, the length and conductivity of acid corrosion fracture are the best. A total of 12 staged acid fracturing horizontal wells have been completed in the Sichuan carbonate gas reservoir, and the production is 2.1 times that of ordinary acid fracturing horizontal wells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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16 pages, 5910 KiB  
Article
Gelling Behavior of PAM/Phenolic Crosslinked Gel and Its Profile Control in a Low-Temperature and High-Salinity Reservoir
by Fei Ding, Caili Dai, Yongpeng Sun, Guang Zhao, Qing You and Yifei Liu
Gels 2022, 8(7), 433; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8070433 - 11 Jul 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1831
Abstract
Gel conformance control technology is widely used in moderate and high temperature reservoirs. However, there are few studies on shallow low-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. The difficulties are that it is difficult to crosslink at low temperatures and with poor stability at high salt [...] Read more.
Gel conformance control technology is widely used in moderate and high temperature reservoirs. However, there are few studies on shallow low-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. The difficulties are that it is difficult to crosslink at low temperatures and with poor stability at high salt concentrations. Therefore, the PHRO gel was developed, which was composed of gelatinizing agent (polyacrylamide), crosslinking agents (hexamethylenetetramine and resorcinol) and crosslinking promoting agent (oxalic acid). The PHRO could form high-strength gels in both deionized water and high-concentration salinity solutions (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2). The observation of the microstructure of PHRO gel shows that a strong “stem—leaf”-shaped three-dimensional network structure is formed in deionized water, and the network structure is still intact in high-concentration salt solution. The results show that PHRO has good salt resistance properties and is suitable for conformance control of low-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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21 pages, 6955 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Oil Recovery Mechanism and Technical Boundary of Gel Foam Profile Control System for Heterogeneous Reservoirs in Changqing
by Liang-Liang Wang, Teng-Fei Wang, Jie-Xiang Wang, Hai-Tong Tian, Yi Chen and Wei Song
Gels 2022, 8(6), 371; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8060371 - 12 Jun 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 1893
Abstract
The gel plugging and flooding system has a long history of being researched and applied, but the Changqing reservoir geological characteristics are complex, and the synergistic performance of the composite gel foam plugging system is not fully understood, resulting in poor field application. [...] Read more.
The gel plugging and flooding system has a long history of being researched and applied, but the Changqing reservoir geological characteristics are complex, and the synergistic performance of the composite gel foam plugging system is not fully understood, resulting in poor field application. Additionally, the technique boundary chart of the heterogeneous reservoir plugging system has hardly appeared. In this work, reservoir models of porous, fracture, and pore-fracture were constructed, a composite gel foam plugging system was developed, and its static injection and dynamic profile control and oil displacement performance were evaluated. Finally, combined with the experimental studies, a technical boundary chart of plugging systems for heterogeneous reservoirs is proposed. The research results show that the adsorption effect of microspheres (WQ-100) on the surface of elastic gel particles-1 (PEG-1) is more potent than that of pre-crosslinked particle gel (PPG) and the deposition is mainly on the surface of PPG. The adsorption effect of PEG-1 on the surface of PPG is not apparent, primarily manifested as deposition stacking. The gel was synthesized with 0.2% hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) + 0.2% organic chromium cross-linking agent, and the strength of enhanced gel with WQ-100 was higher than that of PEG-1 and PPG. The comprehensive value of WQ-100 reinforced foam is greater than that of PEG-1, and PPG reinforced foam, and the enhanced foam with gel has a thick liquid film and poor foaming effect. For the heterogeneous porous reservoir with the permeability of 5/100 mD, the enhanced foam with WQ-100 shows better performance in plugging control and flooding, and the recovery factor increases by 28.05%. The improved foam with gel enhances the fluid flow diversion ability and the recovery factor of fractured reservoirs with fracture widths of 50 μm and 180 μm increases by 29.41% and 24.39%, respectively. For pore-fractured reservoirs with a permeability of 52/167 mD, the PEG + WQ-100 microsphere and enhanced foam with WQ-100 systems show better plugging and recovering performance, and the recovery factor increases are 20.52% and 17.08%, 24.44%, and 21.43%, respectively. The smaller the particle size of the prefabricated gel, the more uniform the adsorption on the foam liquid film and the stronger the stability of the foam system. The plugging performance of the composite gel system is stronger than that of the enhanced gel with foam, but the oil displacement performance of the gel-enhanced foam is better than that of the composite gel system due to the “plug-flooding-integrated” feature of the foam. Combined with the plugging and flooding performance of each plugging system, a technique boundary chart for the plugging system was established for the coexisting porous, fracture, and pore-fracture heterogeneous reservoirs in Changqing Oilfield. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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18 pages, 7378 KiB  
Article
Soft Movable Polymer Gel for Controlling Water Coning of Horizontal Well in Offshore Heavy Oil Cold Production
by Jie Qu, Pan Wang, Qing You, Guang Zhao, Yongpeng Sun and Yifei Liu
Gels 2022, 8(6), 352; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8060352 - 05 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1707
Abstract
Horizontal well water coning in offshore fields is one of the most common causes of rapid declines in crude oil production and, even more critical, can lead to oil well shut down. The offshore Y oil field with a water cut of 94.7% [...] Read more.
Horizontal well water coning in offshore fields is one of the most common causes of rapid declines in crude oil production and, even more critical, can lead to oil well shut down. The offshore Y oil field with a water cut of 94.7% urgently needs horizontal well water control. However, it is a challenge for polymer gels to meet the requirements of low-temperature (55 °C) gelation and mobility to control water in a wider range. This paper introduced a novel polymer gel cross-linked by hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and chromium acetate and phenolic resin for water coning control of a horizontal well. The detailed gelant formula and treatment method of water coning control for a horizontal well in an offshore field was established. The optimized gelant formula was 0.30~0.45% HPAM + 0.30~0.5% phenolic resin + 0.10~0.15% chromium acetate, with corresponding gelation time of 26~34 h at 55 °C. The results showed that this gel has a compact network structure and excellent creep property, and it can play an efficient water control role in the microscopic model. The thus-optimized gelants were successively injected with injection volumes of 500.0 m3. The displacement fluid was used to displace gelants into the lost zone away from the oil zone. Then, the formed gel can be worked as the chemical packer in the oil–water interface to control water coning after shutting in for 4 days of gelation. The oil-field monitoring data indicated that the oil rate increased from 9.2 m3/d to 20.0 m3/d, the average water cut decreased to 60~70% after treatment, and the cumulative oil production could obtain 1.035 × 104 t instead of 3.9 × 103 t. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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18 pages, 4563 KiB  
Article
Novel Acrylamide/2-Acrylamide-2-3 Methylpropanesulfonic Acid/Styrene/Maleic Anhydride Polymer-Based CaCO3 Nanoparticles to Improve the Filtration of Water-Based Drilling Fluids at High Temperature
by Zhichuan Tang, Zhengsong Qiu, Hanyi Zhong, Hui Mao, Kai Shan and Yujie Kang
Gels 2022, 8(5), 322; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8050322 - 20 May 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2048
Abstract
Filtration loss control under high-temperature conditions is a worldwide issue among water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs). A core–shell high-temperature filter reducer (PAASM-CaCO3) that combines organic macromolecules with inorganic nanomaterials was developed by combining acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS), styrene (St), and [...] Read more.
Filtration loss control under high-temperature conditions is a worldwide issue among water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs). A core–shell high-temperature filter reducer (PAASM-CaCO3) that combines organic macromolecules with inorganic nanomaterials was developed by combining acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS), styrene (St), and maleic anhydride (MA) as monomers and nano-calcium carbonate (NCC). The molecular structure of PAASM-CaCO3 was characterized. The average molecular weight of the organic part was 6.98 × 105 and the thermal decomposition temperature was about 300 °C. PAASM-CaCO3 had a better high-temperature resistance. The rheological properties and filtration performance of drilling fluids treated with PAASM-CaCO3 were stable before and after aging at 200 °C/16 h, and the effect of filtration control was better than that of commonly used filter reducers. PAASM-CaCO3 improved colloidal stability and mud cake quality at high temperatures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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17 pages, 24674 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Oil Displacement Mechanism of Weak Gel in Waterflood Reservoirs
by Hongjie Cheng, Xianbao Zheng, Yongbin Wu, Jipeng Zhang, Xin Zhao and Chenglong Li
Gels 2022, 8(5), 309; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8050309 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1476
Abstract
The production performance of waterflood reservoirs with years of production is severely challenged by high water cuts and extensive water channels. Among IOR/EOR methods, weak gel injection is particularly effective in improving the water displacement efficiency and oil recovery. The visualized microscopic oil [...] Read more.
The production performance of waterflood reservoirs with years of production is severely challenged by high water cuts and extensive water channels. Among IOR/EOR methods, weak gel injection is particularly effective in improving the water displacement efficiency and oil recovery. The visualized microscopic oil displacement experiments were designed to comprehensively investigate the weak gel mechanisms in porous media and the numerical simulations coupling equations characterizing weak gel viscosity induced dynamics were implemented to understand its planar and vertical block and movement behaviors at the field scale. From experiments, the residual oil of initial water flooding mainly exists in the form of cluster, column, dead end, and membranous, and it mainly exists in the form of cluster and dead end in subsequent water flooding stage following weak gel injection. The porous flow mechanism of weak gel includes the preferential plugging of large channels, the integral and staged transport of weak gel, and the residual oil flow along pore walls in weak gel displacement. The profile-control mechanism of weak gel is as follows: weak gel selectively enters the large channels, weak gel blocks large channels and forces subsequent water flow to change direction, weak gel uses viscoelastic bulk motion to form negative pressure oil absorption, and the oil droplets converge to form an oil stream, respectively. The numerical simulation indicates that weak gel can effectively reduce the water-oil mobility ratio, preferentially block the high permeability layer and the large pore channels, divert the subsequent water to flood the low permeability layer, and improve the water injection swept efficiency. It is found numerically that a weak gel system is able to flow forward under high-pressure differences in the subsequent water flooding, which can further improve oil displacement efficiency. Unlike the conventional profile-control methods, weak gels make it possible to displace the bypassed oil in the deep inter-well regions with significant potential to enhance oil recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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20 pages, 6502 KiB  
Article
Wellbore Stability through Novel Catechol-Chitosan Biopolymer Encapsulator-Based Drilling Mud
by Zhichuan Tang, Zhengsong Qiu, Hanyi Zhong, Yujie Kang and Baoyu Guo
Gels 2022, 8(5), 307; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8050307 - 16 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1885
Abstract
The problem of wellbore stability has a marked impact on oil and gas exploration and development in the process of drilling. Marine mussel proteins can adhere and encapsulate firmly on deep-water rocks, providing inspiration for solving borehole stability problem and this ability comes [...] Read more.
The problem of wellbore stability has a marked impact on oil and gas exploration and development in the process of drilling. Marine mussel proteins can adhere and encapsulate firmly on deep-water rocks, providing inspiration for solving borehole stability problem and this ability comes from catechol groups. In this paper, a novel biopolymer was synthesized with chitosan and catechol (named “SDGB”) by Schiff base-reduction reaction, was developed as an encapsulator in water-based drilling fluids (WBDF). In addition, the chemical enhancing wellbore stability performance of different encapsulators were investigated and compared. The results showed that there were aromatic ring structure, amines, and catechol groups in catechol-chitosan biopolymer molecule. The high shale recovery rate demonstrated its strong shale inhibition performance. The rock treated by catechol-chitosan biopolymer had higher tension shear strength and uniaxial compression strength than others, which indicates that it can effectively strengthen the rock and bind loose minerals in micro-pore and micro-fracture of rock samples. The rheological and filtration property of the WBDF containing catechol-chitosan biopolymer is stable before and after 130 °C/16 h hot rolling, demonstrating its good compatibility with other WBDF agents. Moreover, SDGB could chelate with metal ions, forming a stable covalent bond, which plays an important role in adhesiveness, inhibition, and blockage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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18 pages, 4926 KiB  
Article
Synthesis and Weak Hydrogelling Properties of a Salt Resistance Copolymer Based on Fumaric Acid Sludge and Its Application in Oil Well Drilling Fluids
by Zhongjin Wei, Fengshan Zhou, Sinan Chen and Wenjun Long
Gels 2022, 8(5), 251; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8050251 - 20 Apr 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1833
Abstract
Fumaric acid sludge (FAS) by-produced from phthalic anhydride production wastewater treatment contains a large amount of refractory organic compounds with a complex composition, which will cause environmental pollution unless it is treated in a deep, harmless manner. FAS included saturated carboxylic acid, more [...] Read more.
Fumaric acid sludge (FAS) by-produced from phthalic anhydride production wastewater treatment contains a large amount of refractory organic compounds with a complex composition, which will cause environmental pollution unless it is treated in a deep, harmless manner. FAS included saturated carboxylic acid, more than 60%, and unsaturated carboxylic acid, close to 30%, which accounted for the total mass of dry sludge. A new oil well drilling fluid filtrate loss reducer, poly(AM-AMPS-FAS) (PAAF), was synthesized by copolymerizing FAS with acrylamide (AM) and 2-acrylamide-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS). Without a refining requirement for FAS, it can be used as a polymerizable free radical monomer for the synthesis of PAAF after a simple drying process. The copolymer PAAF synthesis process was studied, and the optimal monomer mass ratio was determined to be AM:AMPS:FAS = 1:1:1. The temperature resistance of the synthesized PAAF was significantly improved when 5% sodium silicate was added as a cross-linking agent. The structural characterization and evaluation of temperature and complex saline resistance performance of PAAF were carried out. The FT-IR results show that the structure of PAAF contained amide groups and sulfonic acid groups. The TGA results show that PAAF has good temperature resistance. As an oilfield filtrate loss reducer, the cost-effective copolymer PAAF not only has excellent temperature and complex saline resistance, the API filtration loss (FL) was only 13.2 mL/30 min after 16 h of hot rolling and aging at 150 °C in the complex saline-based mud, which is smaller compared with other filtrate loss reducer copolymers, but it also has little effect on the rheological properties of drilling fluid. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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20 pages, 5220 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Hydrogelling Performances of a New Drilling Fluid Filtrate Reducer from Plant Press Slag
by Wenjun Long, Xialei Zhu, Fengshan Zhou, Zhen Yan, Amutenya Evelina, Jinliang Liu, Zhongjin Wei and Liang Ma
Gels 2022, 8(4), 201; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels8040201 - 23 Mar 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2815
Abstract
Plant press slag (PPS) containing abundant cellulose and starch is a byproduct in the deep processing of fruits, cereals, and tuberous crops products. PPS can be modified by using caustic soda and chloroacetic acid to obtain an inexpensive and environmentally friendly filtrate reducer [...] Read more.
Plant press slag (PPS) containing abundant cellulose and starch is a byproduct in the deep processing of fruits, cereals, and tuberous crops products. PPS can be modified by using caustic soda and chloroacetic acid to obtain an inexpensive and environmentally friendly filtrate reducer of drilling fluids. The optimum mass ratio of mNaOH:mMCA:mPPS is 1:1:2, the optimum etherification temperature is 75 °C, and the obtained product is a natural mixture of carboxymethyl cellulose and carboxymethyl starch (CMCS). PPS and CMCS are characterized by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The filtration loss performance of CMCS is stable before and after hot-rolling aging at 120 °C in 4.00% NaCl and saturated NaCl brine base slurry. The minimum filtration loss value of CMCS is 5.28 mL/30 min at the dosage of 1.50%. Compared with the commercial filtrate reducers with a single component, i.e., carboxymethyl starch (CMS) and low viscosity sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (LV-CMC), CMCS have a better tolerance to high temperature of 120 °C and high concentration of NaCl. The filtration loss performance of low-cost CMCS can reach the standards of LV-CMC and CMS of the specification of water-based drilling fluid materials in petroleum industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

24 pages, 9112 KiB  
Review
Novel Trends in the Development of Surfactant-Based Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids: A Review
by Andrey V. Shibaev, Andrei A. Osiptsov and Olga E. Philippova
Gels 2021, 7(4), 258; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/gels7040258 - 12 Dec 2021
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3676
Abstract
Viscoelastic surfactants (VES) are amphiphilic molecules which self-assemble into long polymer-like aggregates—wormlike micelles. Such micellar chains form an entangled network, imparting high viscosity and viscoelasticity to aqueous solutions. VES are currently attracting great attention as the main components of clean hydraulic fracturing fluids [...] Read more.
Viscoelastic surfactants (VES) are amphiphilic molecules which self-assemble into long polymer-like aggregates—wormlike micelles. Such micellar chains form an entangled network, imparting high viscosity and viscoelasticity to aqueous solutions. VES are currently attracting great attention as the main components of clean hydraulic fracturing fluids used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Fracturing fluids consist of proppant particles suspended in a viscoelastic medium. They are pumped into a wellbore under high pressure to create fractures, through which the oil can flow into the well. Polymer gels have been used most often for fracturing operations; however, VES solutions are advantageous as they usually require no breakers other than reservoir hydrocarbons to be cleaned from the well. Many attempts have recently been made to improve the viscoelastic properties, temperature, and salt resistance of VES fluids to make them a cost-effective alternative to polymer gels. This review aims at describing the novel concepts and advancements in the fundamental science of VES-based fracturing fluids reported in the last few years, which have not yet been widely industrially implemented, but are significant for prospective future applications. Recent achievements, reviewed in this paper, include the use of oligomeric surfactants, surfactant mixtures, hybrid nanoparticle/VES, or polymer/VES fluids. The advantages and limitations of the different VES fluids are discussed. The fundamental reasons for the different ways of improvement of VES performance for fracturing are described. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications)
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