Abstract
Abstract - Application of viscoelastic surfactant (VES) fluids in hydraulic fracturing is still in the development stage, though shear thinning behavior and water solubility are the two important characteristics behind increasing interest in their use in fracturing jobs. Effects of ionic characteristics and the concentration of different surfactants on the rheological properties of VES fluid have been investigated in detail in the present study for a number of surfactant systems. Phase behavior of the system was studied and the gel region was identified. Effects of alkali on the viscosity, thermal stability, and miscibility (in water) of the developed gel were also investigated. Dynamic rheological study was carried out to determine the storage modulus and loss modulus. This study shows that mixed anionic-anionic system gives improved rheology compared to single anionic and mixed anionic-zwitterionic surfactant systems. Keywords : Hydraulic Fracturing; Viscoelastic gel; Surfactant based fluids; Rheology; Nanoparticles.
Highlights
Use of surfactants in various applications is almost as old as human civilization
Surfactants generally form aggregates, i.e., micelles, where the hydrophobic tails form the core of the aggregate and the hydrophilic heads are in contact with the surrounding liquid when dissolved in an aqueous phase
We report a rheological study on the mixed viscoelastic surfactant (VES)-based gels prepared from two anionic mixed surfactants (SDS and ammonium dodecyl sulfate (ALS)) as a function of surfactant type, surfactant concentration, temperature, alkali concentration, and addition of nanoparticles and we have compared this with single surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) studies and anionic and zwitterionic
Summary
Use of surfactants in various applications is almost as old as human civilization. They find wide application in industry because of their remarkable ability to influence the properties of surfaces and interfaces.Surfactants are applied at all stages in the petroleum recovery and processing units, starting from well drilling, hydraulic fracturing, EOR to other production operations. Use of surfactants in various applications is almost as old as human civilization. They find wide application in industry because of their remarkable ability to influence the properties of surfaces and interfaces. Surfactants are applied at all stages in the petroleum recovery and processing units, starting from well drilling, hydraulic fracturing, EOR to other production operations. Surfactants generally form aggregates, i.e., micelles, where the hydrophobic tails form the core of the aggregate and the hydrophilic heads are in contact with the surrounding liquid when dissolved in an aqueous phase. Aggregates may be formed in different shapes: spherical or cylindrical micelles or lipid bilayers. The shape of the aggregates depends on the chemical structure of the surfactants, namely the balance in size between hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail.
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