Al-Hajri Sameer, Negash Berihun M, Rahman Md Motiur, Haroun Mohammed, Al-Shami Tareq M
Petroleum Engineering Department, Khalifa University, P.O. Box, 127788 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Persiaran UTP, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia.
ACS Omega. 2022 Feb 23;7(9):7431-7443. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c06739. eCollection 2022 Mar 8.
After successful implementation for more than 6 decades by the oil and gas industry, hydraulic fracturing remains the pioneer well stimulation method to date. Polymers are one of the additives in fracturing fluids that play a significant role. Polymers are used as friction reducers and viscosifiers to provide a transport medium for proppants in fracturing fluids. There are many polymer-based fracturing fluid systems, but choosing the most appropriate type and system depends on the type of application and a wide range of parameters. Currently, there is no complete review study that gives a reference and hence a perspective for researchers on the use of polymers in hydraulic fracturing. This paper summarizes the published literature on polymers used in fracturing fluids and discusses the current research issues, efforts, and trends in the field, aiming to provide an overview of the polymer applications in slick-water and cross-linked gel systems. The mechanism and limitation of polymer use such as polymer degradation, fracture conductivity reduction, and polymer adsorption are also reviewed in this paper. The reviewed literature suggested that polymers are important additives in fracturing fluids not only to provide adequate transportation of proppants but also to determine the width of the fracture whereby higher viscosities yield wider fractures. The development of synthetic polymers and associative polymers in fracturing fluids showed a remarkable potential to improve the stability of fracturing fluids in unconventional reservoirs under reservoir conditions, which makes it an interesting topic for future studies.
在石油和天然气行业成功应用了六十多年后，水力压裂至今仍是领先的油井增产措施。聚合物是压裂液中的添加剂之一，发挥着重要作用。聚合物用作减阻剂和增稠剂，为压裂液中的支撑剂提供输送介质。有许多基于聚合物的压裂液体系，但选择最合适的类型和体系取决于应用类型以及众多参数。目前，尚无全面的综述研究能为研究人员提供关于聚合物在水力压裂中应用的参考及视角。本文总结了已发表的关于压裂液中聚合物的文献，并讨论了该领域当前的研究问题、成果及趋势，旨在概述聚合物在滑溜水和交联凝胶体系中的应用情况。本文还综述了聚合物使用的机理及局限性，如聚合物降解、裂缝导流能力降低和聚合物吸附等。综述文献表明，聚合物是压裂液中的重要添加剂，不仅能为支撑剂提供充分输送，还能决定裂缝宽度，较高的粘度会产生更宽的裂缝。压裂液中合成聚合物和缔合聚合物的发展显示出在储层条件下提高非常规储层压裂液稳定性的巨大潜力，这使其成为未来研究的一个有趣课题。
