A high salt tolerance and low adsorption drag reducer based on non-covalent enhancement

Abstract

To formulate fluids with flowback water, produced water directly to improve the utilization rate of recycling and reduce the adsorption damage of slick water to reservoirs, a high salt tolerance and low adsorption drag reducer was designed and prepared by introducing polar cation fragments to enhance the non-covalent interactions between the chains. The drag reducer was characterized by IR and NMR. Friction resistance and viscosity tests were conducted to evaluate its salt resistance property. Static adsorption and dynamic adsorption retention tests were carried out to evaluate the damage of this reducer to shale reservoirs. The introduction of cation units into the molecular structure can weak the shielding effect of metal cations to some extent, so the drag reducer can keep a stable molecular structure and good resistant reducing performance under high salinity. The enhancement of non-covalent interaction between chains decreased the free polarity sites, further reduced the possibility of hydrogen bonding between drag reducer molecules and shale. In high salinity condition, both the adsorption capacity of the drag reducer on the shale surface and the average damage rate to the core permeability are low. Compared with the conventional salt-tolerant system, the overall liquid cost was reduced by 17% and the production per well increased by 44%. The application of this slick water system has achieved remarkable results.

Keywords

• shale
• hydraulic fracturing
• slick water
• drag reducer
• low adsorption
• high salt tolerance