Please wait a minute...
Frontiers in Energy

ISSN 2095-1701

ISSN 2095-1698(Online)

CN 11-6017/TK

Postal Subscription Code 80-972

2018 Impact Factor: 1.701

Front. Energy    2019, Vol. 13 Issue (4) : 667-672    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-019-0626-y
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Key problems and solutions in supercritical CO2 fracturing technology
Haizhu WANG1(), Gensheng LI1, Bin ZHU2, Kamy SEPEHRNOORI3, Lujie SHI1, Yong ZHENG1, Xiaomei SHI1
1. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
2. China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Co., Ltd, Beijing 100034, China
3. Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712, USA
 Download: PDF(1026 KB)   HTML
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

Supercritical CO2 fracturing is considered to be a new method for efficient exploitation of unconventional reservoirs, such as shale gas, coal bed methane, and tight sand stone gas. Supercritical CO2 has many special properties including low viscosity, high diffusion coefficient, and lack of surface tension, which brings about great advantages for fracturing. However, these properties also cause several problems, such as difficulty in proppant transportation, high friction loss, and high pump displacement. In this paper, the above problems were analyzed by combining field test with laboratory study and specific solutions to these problems are given. The high frictionloss in the pipeline could be reduced by developing a new drag reducing agent and selecting large-size casing. Besides, for the problem of poor capacity in proppant carrying and sand plug, the methods of adding tackifier into supercritical CO2, increasing pump displacement and selecting ultra-low density proppants are proposed. Moreover, for the problem of fast leak-off and high requirement for pump displacement, the displacement can be increased or the pad fluid can be injected into the reservoir. After solving the above three problems, the field test of supercritical CO2 fracturing can be conducted. The research results can promote the industrialization process of supercritical CO2 fracturing.

Keywords supercritical CO2      fracturing      friction loss      proppant carrying      flied test problem     
Corresponding Author(s): Haizhu WANG   
Online First Date: 28 May 2019    Issue Date: 26 December 2019
 Cite this article:   
Haizhu WANG,Gensheng LI,Bin ZHU, et al. Key problems and solutions in supercritical CO2 fracturing technology[J]. Front. Energy, 2019, 13(4): 667-672.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-019-0626-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2019/V13/I4/667
Fig.1  Coiled tubing fracturing with supercritical CO2
Length/mm Width/mm Height/mm Outlet pressure/MPa Injection temperature/K Inside temperature/K
3000 10 400 20 320 330
Tab.1  Parameters of the model
Fig.2  Contours of sand bank distribution comparison between SC-CO2 and slick water at different times
Depth/m Cementation Injection Fracturing tool Displacement/(m3·min–1) Frictional resistance/MPa Local head loss/MPa
2500 Cementing to wellhead with surface case(5-1/2”) Injection from tubing case(3-1/2”) Jet fracturing tool with with 8-hole 6.5 mm diameter nozzle 2.7 7.5 27
Tab.2  Parameters in field test
60°C 70°C 80°C 90°C
40 MPa 60 MPa 40 MPa 60 MPa 40 MPa 60 MPa 40 MPa 60 MPa
Viscosity SC-CO2/(mPa·s) 0.0893 0.1000 0.0823 0.1023 0.0762 0.0957 0.0708 0.0899
Water/(mPa·s) 0.4760 0.4813 0.4143 0.4197 0.3650 0.3705 0.3252 0.3306
Tab.3  Viscosity comparison between supercritical CO2 and water under reservoir condition
Fig.3  Comparison of friction loss of water and CO2 at constant volume flow rate
1 H Wang, G Li, Z Shen. A feasibility analysis on shale gas exploitation with supercritical carbon dioxide. Energy Source Part A, 2012, 34(15): 1426–1435
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2010.529570
2 H Wang, Z Shen, G Li, et al. Shale gas exploitation with supercritical CO2 technology. Engineering and Science, 2012, 10(4): 13–17
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-4178.2012.04.003
3 G Li, H Wang, Z Shen, et al. Application investigations and prospects of supercritical carbon dioxide jet in petroleum engineering. Journal of China University of Petroleum (Edition of Natural Science), 2013, 37(5): 76–80 (in Chinese)
4 G Li, H Wang, Z Shen, et al. Supercritical CO2 jet fracturing with coiled tubing. Technical Report ZL201110078618.6. 2011 (in Chinese)
5 H Liu, F Wang, J Zhang, et al. Fracturing with carbon dioxide: application status and development trend. Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2014, 41(4): 513–519
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1876-3804(14)60060-4
6 Z Wang, B Sun, X Sun, et al. Phase state variations for supercritical carbon dioxide drilling. Greenhouse Gases, Science and Technology, 2016, 6(1): 83–93
https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1538
7 H Ni, W Song, R Wang, et al. Coupling model for carbon dioxide wellbore flow and heat transfer in coiled tubing drilling. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 2016, 30: 414–420
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jngse.2016.02.050
8 Y Hu, Y Liu, C Cai, et al.Fracture initiation of an inhomogeneous shale rock under a pressurized supercritical CO2 jet. Applied Sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2017, 7(10): 1093
https://doi.org/10.3390/app7101093
9 H Wang, L Li, Z He, et al. The expulsive force of the development of CO2 sequestration- application of SC-CO2 fluid in oil and gas extraction. Frontiers in Energy, 2019, 13(1): 1–8
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-017-0458-6
10 Y Cheng, G Li, H Wang, et al.Pressure boosting effect in perforation cavity during supercritical carbon dioxide jet fracturing. Atomization and Sprays, 2013, 23(5): 463–474
https://doi.org/10.1615/AtomizSpr.2013007403
11 L Hou , T Jiang, H Liu, et al. An evaluation method of supercritical CO2 thickening result for particle transporting. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2017, 21: 247–252
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2017.07.023
12 G Li, H Wang, Z Shen, et al. Experimental study on the efficiency of cuttings carrying with supercritical CO2. In: IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition, Tianjin, China, 2012
13 Y Feng, K E Gray. Modeling lost circulation through drilling-induced fractures. SPE Journal, 2018, 23(1): 1–19
https://doi.org/10.2118/187945-PA
14 X Li, G Li, W Yu, et al. Thermal effects of liquid-supercritical CO2 arising from fluid expansion in fracturing. SPE Journal, 2018, 23(6): 1–15
https://doi.org/10.2118/191357-PA
15 X Li, G Li, K Sepehrnoori, et al. Estimation and analysis of CO2 friction loss in wellbore during liquid-supercritical CO2 fracturing. SPE Production & Operations, 2019, 34(1): 1–16
https://doi.org/10.2118/191142-PA
16 X Li, G Li, G Wang, et al. A unified model for wellbore flow and heat transfer in pure CO2 injection for geological sequestration, EOR and fracturing operations. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2017, 57: 102–115
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.11.030
17 H Wang, Z Shen, G Li. Wellbore flow model of coiled tubing drilling with supercritical carbon dioxide. Energy Sources: Part A, 2012, 34(14):1347–1362
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2010.520065
18 L Liu, W Zhu, C Wei, et al. Microcrack-based geomechanical modeling of rock-gas interaction during supercritical CO2 fracturing. Journal of Petroleum Science Engineering, 2018, 164: 91–102
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2018.01.049
19 J Wang, B Sun, Z Wang, et al. Study on filtration patterns of supercritical CO2 fracturing in unconventional natural gas reservoirs. Greenhouse Gas Science and Technology, 2017, 7(6): 1126–1140
https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1721
20 S Liu, J Wang, H He, et al.Mechanism on imbibition of fracturing fluid in nanopore. Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters, 2018, 10(1): 87–93
https://doi.org/10.1166/nnl.2018.2594
21 Y Feng, X Li, K E Gray. Development of a 3D numerical model for quantifying fluid-driven interface debonding of an injector well. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2017, 62: 76–90
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2017.04.008
22 X Wang, J Wu, J Zhang. Application of CO2 fracturing technology for terrestrial shale gas reservoirs. Natural Gas Industry, 2014, 34(1): 64–67 (in Chinese)
23 Z Song, W Su , Y Yang , et al. Experimental studies of CO2/sand dry-frac process. Natural Gas Industry, 2014, 34(6): 55–59 (in Chinese)
https://doi.org/10.3787/j.issn.1000-0976.2014.06.009
24 H Huo, H Wang, H Ni, et al. Study of critical annulus up-returning velocity of cuttings carried by supercritical CO2 in deviated well. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2017, 20: 105–112
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2017.04.013
25 B Sun, W Sun. Research progress and prospective of supercritical CO2 thickening technology. Journal of China University of Petroleum (Edition of Natural Science), 2015 (3): 76–83 (in Chinese)
https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1673-5005.2015.03.010
26 H Yin, J Zhou, X Xian, et al. Experimental study of the effects of sub- and super-critical CO2 saturation on the mechanical characteristics of organic-rich shales. Energy, 2017, 132: 84–95
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.064
27 X Zhang, Y Lu, J Tang, Z Zhou, et al. Experimental study on fracture initiation and propagation in shale using supercritical carbon dioxide fracturing. Fuel, 2017, 190(15): 370–378
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.10.120
28 Z Rui, X Wang, Z Zhang, et al.A realistic and integrated model for evaluating oil sands development with steam assisted gravity drainage technology in Canada. Applied Energy, 2018, 213: 76–91
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.01.015
29 X Ao, Y Y Lu, J R Tang, et al. Investigation on the physics structure and chemical properties of the shale treated by supercritical CO2. Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2017, 20:74–281
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2017.05.028
[1] Haizhu WANG, Gensheng LI, Zhonghou SHEN, Zhenguo HE, Qingling LIU, Bin ZHU, Youwen WANG, Meng WANG. Expulsive force in the development of CO2 sequestration: application of SC-CO2 jet in oil and gas extraction[J]. Front. Energy, 2019, 13(1): 1-8.
[2] Junhyun CHO, Hyungki SHIN, Jongjae CHO, Young-Seok KANG, Ho-Sang RA, Chulwoo ROH, Beomjoon LEE, Gilbong LEE, Byunghui KIM, Young-Jin BAIK. Preliminary experimental study of a supercritical CO2 power cycle test loop with a high-speed turbo-generator using R134a under similarity conditions[J]. Front. Energy, 2017, 11(4): 452-460.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed