Enhance The Properties of Cellulose Fracturing Fluids By Cellulose Nanocrystals

Abstract

With inspiration from the enhancement of the viscoelasticity of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) on hydrogels, we paid attention to cellulose fracturing fluids prepared from the CNCs skeleton reinforced covalently cross-linked cellulose networks. In this paper, we hybridized CNCs with sodium CMC-Na to form nano cellulose fracturing fluids, characterized the performance of nano hybrid fracturing fluids and analyzed the nano-crystals enhancing fracturing fluid performance mechanism. It showed that the apparent viscosity, temperature tolerance, elastic modulus, and tensile strength of cellulose fracturing fluids were improved by CNCs. Compared with the blank cellulose fracturing fluids, the viscosity value of nano-cellulose fracturing fluids at 120 ℃ reached 195mPa·s, with an increase of 200 %, and the elastic modulus was 30Pa, with an increase of about 253 %. Furthermore, the microscopic analysis revealed that CNCs can play the role of nucleus and skeleton in the network structure of cellulose fracturing fluids and obviously enhanced the strength of the network structure. It is obvious to improve the performance of the fracturing fluids by adding CNCs into the cellulose fracturing fluids. This method provides a new idea for the development of fracturing fluids suitable for unconventional reservoirs.

Applicability Assessment of Viscoelastic Surfactants and Synthetic Polymers as a Base of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids

“…From the 1950s to the 1980s, the proportion of oil-based fluids in the fracturing process decreased from 100 to 20%, which reduced the costs and risks of treatment [12][13][14]. Aqueous solutions of polymers, such as starches [15], guar gum [16,17], xanthan gum [18][19][20], carboxymethyl cellulose [21][22][23][24], and polyacrylamide [25,26], have come to replace hydrocarbon-based fluids [27,28]. Despite the low content of chemical reagents in water-based hydraulic fracturing fluids (less than 2-3 vol.% [27,29]), many environmental organizations oppose hydraulic fracturing operations.…”