Application of nanofluids for treating fines migration during hydraulic fracturing: Experimental study and mechanistic understanding

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing has emerged as one of the best and most economical methods for enhancing oil recovery from low permeability reservoirs. However, its performance will be negatively affected by fines migration due to the hydraulic fracturing process. In the present study, it has been tried to experimentally investigate the efficiency of synthesized nanosilica particles in reducing fines migration. To this end, two sets of static and dynamic experiments, namely glass bead funnel test and core displacement analysis, were implemented, respectively. In the static test, increasing the soaking time and addition of nanosilica led to the clearer effluent fluid, resulting in fewer concentrations of clay particles in solution. When the mixture of nanosilica and glass beads was available in the solution, a higher differential pressure was obtained during a dynamic condition in comparison to only glass beads, which means the lower permeability of the porous media. Moreover, Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory was applied to demonstrate the clay particles absorption on the sand proppants surfaces. Consequently, it was observed that the use of nanosilica particles mixed with sand proppant can effectively reduce fines migration; thereby, it can enhance the hydraulic performance of the fracturing operation.

Insights into the Effects of Pore Size Distribution on the Flowing Behavior of Carbonate Rocks: Linking a Nano-Based Enhanced Oil Recovery Method to Rock Typing

“…Results of zeta potential measurements for the NPs and the AOS–NPs are shown in Figure 9 . A negative zeta potential value signifies that the forces between the silica NPs and the AOS surfactant monomers used in this study are repulsive, which causes the nanoparticles not to be accumulated [ 56 ]. Investigating colloid stability is one of the most common applications of zeta potential data.…”

“…Investigating colloid stability is one of the most common applications of zeta potential data. Figure 10 shows guidelines classifying NPs-dispersions with different ranges of zeta potential values [ 56 , 57 ].…”

Anisotropic Rock Poroelasticity Evolution in Ultra‐low Permeability Sandstones under Pore Pressure, Confining Pressure, and Temperature: Experiments with Biot's Coefficient

“…The theoretical framework of mechanics is indispensable for the study of hydraulic fracturing process (Zhao，2016 and 2018). Prediction of fracture distribution in hydraulic fracturing is of great significance for enhancing oil and gas recovery (Chen et al, 2015;Moghadasi et al, 2019;Xu et al, 2019;Panja et al, 2020).…”

Hybrid Nanofluid Flow over a Permeable Shrinking Sheet Embedded in a Porous Medium with Radiation and Slip Impacts

“…Nanofluids have novel properties that make them a phenomenal development in many industrial applications, including microelectronics, hybrid-powered engines, domestic refrigerator, chiller, and even in high-functional military specialized gadgets, as explained by Saidur et al [2]. One of the recent application in nanofluids was presented by Moghadasi et al [3], who investigated the efficiency of synthesized nanosilica particles in reducing fines migration in hydraulic fracturing. They stated that the hydraulic fracturing process can be badly affected by fines migration, and they conducted an experiment by adding the nanosilica particles and soaking time.…”