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

Hydraulic fracturing has emerged as one of the best and most economic methods for enhancing oil recovery from low permeability reservoirs such as shale gas reservoirs. However, its performance will be negatively affected by fines migration due to hydraulic fracturing process. In the present study, it has been tried to experimentally investigate the efficiency of a synthesized Nanosilica particles in reducing fines migration for the first time in literature. 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 less 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 dynamic condition in comparison to only glass beads, which means the lower permeability of the porous media. Moreover, DLVO 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 hydraulic performance of the fracturing operation.Cited as: Moghadasi, R., Rostami, A., Hemmati-Sarapardeh, A. Application of nanofluids for treating fines migration during hydraulic fracturing: Experimental study and mechanistic understanding. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2019, 3(2): 198-206, doi: 10.26804/ager.2019.02.0