A Critical Review of Using High Viscosity Friction Reducers as Fracturing Fluids for Hydraulic Fracturing Applications

Abstract

The primary purpose of using traditional friction reducers in stimulation treatments is to overcome the tubular drag while pumping at high flow rates. Hydraulic fracturing is the main technology used to produce hydrocarbon from extremely low permeability rock. Even though slickwater (water fracturing with few chemical additives) used to be one of the most common fracturing fluids, several concerns are still associated with its use, including usage of freshwater, high-cost operation, and environmental issues. Therefore, current practice in hydraulic fracturing is to use alternative fluid systems that are cost effective and have less environmental impact, such as fluids which utilize high viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs), which typically are high molecular weight polyacrylamides. This paper carefully reviews and summarizes over 40 published papers, including experimental work, field case studies, and simulation work. This work summarizes the most recent improvements of using HVFR’s, including capability of carrying proppant, reducing water and chemical requirements, its compatibility with produced water, and environmental benefits in hydraulic fracturing treatments. A further goal is to gain insight into the effective design of HVFR based fluid systems. The findings of this study are analyzed from over 26 field case studies of many unconventional reservoirs. In comparing to the traditional hydraulic fracture fluids system, the paper summaries many potential advantages offered by HVFR fluids, including: superior proppant transport capability, almost 100% retained conductivity, cost reduction, minimizing chemicals usage by 50%, less operating equipment on location, reducing water consumption by 30%, and fewer environmental concerns. The study also reported that the common HVFR concentration used was 4gpt. HVFRs were used in the field at temperature ranges from 120°F to 340°F. Finally, this work addresses up-to-date challenges and emphasizes necessities for using high viscosity friction reducers as alternative fracture fluids.

Turbulent Drag Reduction with an Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Water-Soluble Polymer in Slick-Water Hydrofracking

“…For example, a higher shear rate in excess of 3880 s −1 is observed in shale fracturing treatments [30]. In contrast, a relative low shear rate inside the fractures is ranging from 10 to 100 s −1 [31]. Thus, the influence of shear rate on rheological properties of samples with different concentrations at a constant temperature of 30 • C in a shear rate scanning from 10 −3 to 10 3 s −1 was monitored.…”

Comparative Evaluation of the Rheological and Proppant Handling Capability of Detarium microcarpum as a Viscosifier in Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Design

“…The findings reveal that varying the number of -OH group and oxygen atoms, as well as chain length and branching of carrier fluids, has a substantial impact on intermolecular interactions and that rheological features of a hydraulic fracturing fluid may be controlled [19,20]. High viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs), which are typically high molecular weight polyacrylamides, have been recommended as a biopolymer alternative [21]. In over 26 case studies, the fluid demonstrated greater proppant transport capabilities, nearly 100 percent maintained conductivity, cost savings, a 50 percent decrease in chemical usage, less operational equipment on site, a 30 percent reduction in water consumption, and less environmental concerns.…”

Performance Evaluation of the Multifunctional Variable-Viscosity Slick Water for Fracturing in Unconventional Reservoirs

“…The slick water fracturing fluid is composed of drag-reducing agents combined with bactericide, clay stabilizer, cleanup additives, and other auxiliary agents to form a complete formulation system, which has a good drag-reducing effect. 6,7 The drag resistance of the fluid restricts the flow of the fluid in the pipeline, resulting in low pipeline throughput and increased energy consumption. The polymer dragreducing method is to inject a small amount of high-molecular hydrocarbon polymers into the fluid and reduce the drag resistance in the turbulent state.…”

“…The successful application of the fracturing fluid in shales in the 1990s gradually formed the concept of hydraulic fracturing. , After years of field operation and laboratory experiments, it is generally considered that the slick water fracturing fluid is more suitable for the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas deposit resources and it is easy to form large-scale complex cracks. The slick water fracturing fluid is composed of drag-reducing agents combined with bactericide, clay stabilizer, cleanup additives, and other auxiliary agents to form a complete formulation system, which has a good drag-reducing effect. , The drag resistance of the fluid restricts the flow of the fluid in the pipeline, resulting in low pipeline throughput and increased energy consumption. The polymer drag-reducing method is to inject a small amount of high-molecular hydrocarbon polymers into the fluid and reduce the drag resistance in the turbulent state.…”