Comparing Friction Reducers' Performance in Produced Water from Tight Gas Shales

Ferguson, Marcelle L.; Johnson, Michael

doi:10.2118/1109-0024-jpt

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The make up for the Woodford and Marcellus shale formation return waters were taken from a literature source (Ferguson, et al 2009). The ionic strengths were calculated and are provided in Table 2.…”

Section: Presentation Of Data and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Friction Reducers for Recycled Stimulation Fluids in Environmentally Sensitive Regions

Aften

2010

SPE Eastern Regional Meeting

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Recent studies involving the measurement of friction reducer performance with a variety of brines typical of flow back/recycled stimulation waters of the North Eastern United States have indicated a clear differentiation by specific product type. The friction reducer variances specifically studied were: product charge, charge type, charge distribution reflective of polymerization, molecular weight, inverse emulsion surfactant packages, and manipulation of the internal or external phases.Increasing environmental regulatory pressure in geographic regions sensitive to water use, stimulation flow back discharge, and an increasing need for recycled water, the Marcellus gas play for example, have created a greater demand for higher performing additives in fluid systems used for oil/gas well fracturing. One additive that is greatly influenced by brine characteristic and water quality is the friction reducer. Increasing the ionic strength as well as multivalent cation content of the water typically limits the type of friction reducer used to obtain optimum performance. Standard anionic friction reducers do not perform well in many of these recycled waters as the friction reducer's ultimate performance is decreased, but also the rate of inversion is retarded and the potential for formation damage is increased.When compared to standard friction reducers, the ultimate friction reduction of the best of the series studied achieved nearly twice the friction reduction, approaching Virk's theoretical limit, and had an inversion rate nearly four times as rapid as a standard friction reducer. The dosages of the friction reducer were from 0.25 to 1.00 gallons per thousand gallons of treatment fluid. These friction reducers were tested in a variety of brines in a 10 gallon capacity friction loop through a ½ inch pipe at a Newtonian Reynolds number of 150,000. The data was collected every second during a 10 minute run with 6 specific performance criteria used to rank the candidates. This study demonstrates it is possible to provide a friction reducer that works well in brine content typical to stimulation fluids that contain a majority of flow back water from previous well treatments. This would allow well service companies to provide quality stimulation fluids of greater brine content and also minimize fluid disposal volumes and affiliated costs. Chemical additives such as these are needed in regions where both water quality and quantity are concerns.

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Section: Presentation Of Data and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Friction Reducers for Recycled Stimulation Fluids in Environmentally Sensitive Regions

Aften

2010

SPE Eastern Regional Meeting

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“…Although it is not possible to duplicate field conditions in the lab, the friction loop simulates the process at a Reynolds number of 150,000 following design and operation principles that are widely accepted by the industry. The surface water is based on a literature report (Ferguson, 2009), while the composition of the other brines were obtained by directly analyzing field samples with ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Different synthetic brines were prepared to simulate the water quality of hard surface water, flowback water, or produced water, and the compositions of these brines are compared with that of Atlanta municipal water in Table 1.…”

Section: Friction Reduction Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Friction Reducers as Water Management Aids in Hydraulic Fracturing

Robinson

Kolla

Jackson

et al. 2013

SPE Production and Operations Symposium

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Hydraulic fracturing has transformed the American energy industry, allowing unprecedented access to shale oil and gas deposits. However, fracturing's demand for water has raised concerns across the country, particularly in water-stressed regions like Oklahoma and Texas. Additionally, costs for disposing flowback and produced water have risen and regulations have tightened. Water management is becoming a crucial part of pressure pumping.Instead of paying to import fresh water and paying again to dispose of produced and flowback water, many operators are now seeking to blend fresh and flowback water, but this strategy has its own challenges. Flowback water can contain elevated levels of dissolved solids (particularly polyvalent cations), bacteria, and organics, which can impair conventional friction reducer performance. Additionally, chemicals used to remediate flowback water can potentially affect friction reducer performance.In order to aid water management efforts, Kemira has developed a friction reducer platform that shows superior performance in flowback and produced water with TDS concentrations as high as 236,000 ppm. These emulsion polyacrylamides (EPAMs) have molecular weights in the range of 20 -40 million Daltons and are compatible with other additives such as scale inhibitors and biocides.Friction reduction measurements were performed using a laboratory-scale friction loop designed to simulate the turbulent flow conditions encountered during hydraulic fracturing. Flow rates of 30 gallons per minute were achieved in 0.5-in diameter tubing, resulting in Reynolds numbers of 150,000. The polymers provided friction reduction up to 65% in produced and flowback water, and maximum friction reduction was reached in 50 seconds or less in all cases. By comparison, conventional friction reducers dissolved in 120 seconds in high TDS waters and gave less than 20% friction reduction.

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PRISE: Petroleum Resource Investigation Summary and Evaluation

Old

Holditch

Ayers

et al. 2008

SPE Eastern Regional/Aapg Eastern Section Joint Meeting

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Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Stephen Holditch As conventional resources are depleted, unconventional gas (UG: gas from tight sands, coal beds, and shale) resources are becoming increasingly important to U.S and world energy supply. The volume of UG resources is generally unknown in most international basins. However, in 25 mature U.S. basins, UG resources have been produced for decades and are well characterized in the petroleum literature. The objective of this work was to develop a method for estimating recoverable UG resources in target, or exploratory, basins. The method was based on quantitative relations between known conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resource types in mature U.S. basins.To develop the methodology to estimate resource volumes, we used data from the U.S. Geological Survey, Potential Gas Committee, Energy Information Administration, National Petroleum Council, and Gas Technology Institute to evaluate relations among hydrocarbon resource types in the Appalachian, Black Warrior, Greater Green River, Illinois, San Juan, Uinta-Piceance, and Wind River basins. We chose these seven basins because they are mature basins for both conventional and unconventional iv oil and gas production. We assumed that a seven basin study would be sufficient for preliminary gas resource analysis and assessment of the new methodology. We developed a methodology we call PRISE, which uses software that investigates relationships among data published for both conventional and unconventional resources in the seven mature U.S. basins. PRISE was used to predict recoverable UG resources for target basins, on the basis of their known conventional resources. Input data for PRISE were cumulative production, proved reserves, growth, and undiscovered resources. We used published data to compare cumulative technically recoverable resources for each basin. For the seven basins studied, we found that 10% of the recoverable hydrocarbon resources are conventional oil and gas, and 90% are from unconventional resources.PRISE may be used to estimate the volume of hydrocarbon resources in any basin worldwide and, hopefully, assist early economic and development planning.

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Comparing Friction Reducers' Performance in Produced Water from Tight Gas Shales

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Study of Friction Reducers for Recycled Stimulation Fluids in Environmentally Sensitive Regions

Study of Friction Reducers for Recycled Stimulation Fluids in Environmentally Sensitive Regions

Friction Reducers as Water Management Aids in Hydraulic Fracturing

PRISE: Petroleum Resource Investigation Summary and Evaluation

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