Research of a novel fracturing-production integral fluid based on cationic surfactant

• Published in: Journal of molecular liquids 2023-01, Vol.369, p.120858, Article 120858
• Main Authors: Yan, Jiao, Li, Yongfei, Xie, Xuan, Slaný, Michal, Dong, Sanbao, Wu, Yuanpeng, Chen, Gang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bentonite; Cationic surfactant; Comprehensive utilization; Fracturing-production integral fluid; Oil flooding ability; Static oil washing
• ISSN: 0167-7322; 1873-3166
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.120858

•We designed a fracturing-oil flooding integral fluid based on cationic surfactant.•It displays high-temperature resistance up to 90 °C as fracturing fluid.•It shows low surface and interface tension after gel broken.•It shows high activity as oil flooding integral fluid as well. Fracturing plays an extremely important role in increasing oil and gas production, however, the fracturing flowback fluid has problems such as large volume, difficult treatment, high processing cost, and environmental pollution. In order to expand the application range and reuse of clean fracturing fluid,a fracturing-production integral fluid based on small molecule surfactants, cetyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC), salicylic acid (SA) and oleic acid amide methyl hydroxypropyl ammonium chloride (OAMDC) is proposed. At 90 °C the resistance of the fracturing-production integral fluid reached values up to 63.5 mPa·s. The surface and interface tension of the fracturing-production integral fluid broken by crude oil were 28.5 and 8.19 × 10-3 mN/m, respectively. It shows good oil flooding ability (up to 16.35 %), static oil washing rate (up to 21.5 %) and outstanding emulsification effect. Meanwhile, the application scope clean fracturing flowback fluid will be expanded to achieve its efficient and comprehensive application in the field of oilfield chemistry, thereby improving the benefits of oilfield development.