Retention of Hydraulic Fracturing Water in Shale: The Influence of Anionic Surfactant

Hesham Abdulelah, Syed M. Mahmood, Sameer Al-Hajri, Mohammad Hail Hakimi and Eswaran Padmanabhan
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Hesham Abdulelah: Shale Gas Research Group (SGRG), Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Faculty of Petroleum & Geoscience, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Syed M. Mahmood: Shale Gas Research Group (SGRG), Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Faculty of Petroleum & Geoscience, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Sameer Al-Hajri: Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
Mohammad Hail Hakimi: Geology Department, Faculty of Applied Science, Taiz University, 6803 Taiz, Yemen
Eswaran Padmanabhan: Shale Gas Research Group (SGRG), Institute of Hydrocarbon Recovery, Faculty of Petroleum & Geoscience, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: A tremendous amount of water-based fracturing fluid with ancillary chemicals is injected into the shale reservoirs for hydraulic fracturing, nearly half of which is retained within the shale matrix. The fate of the retained fracturing fluid is raising some environmental and technical concerns. Mitigating these issues requires a knowledge of all the factors possibly contributing to the retention process. Many previous studies have discussed the role of shale properties such as mineralogy and capillarity on fracturing fluid retention. However, the role of some surface active agents like surfactants that are added in the hydraulic fracturing mixture in this issue needs to be understood. In this study, the influence of Internal Olefin Sulfate (IOS), which is an anionic surfactant often added in the fracturing fluid cocktail on this problem was investigated. The effect on water retention of treating two shales “BG-2 and KH-2” with IOS was experimentally examined. These shales were characterized for their mineralogy, total organic carbon (TOC) and surface functional groups. The volume of retained water due to IOS treatment increases by 131% in KH-2 and 87% in BG-2 shale. The difference in the volume of retained uptakes in both shales correlates with the difference in their TOC and mineralogy. It was also inferred that the IOS treatment of these shales reduces methane (CH 4 ) adsorption by 50% in KH-2 and 30% in BG-2. These findings show that the presence of IOS in the composition of fracturing fluid could intensify water retention in shale.

Keywords: hydraulic fracturing; water retention in shale; anionic surfactant; shale gas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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