Modifying Proppant Surface with Superhydrophobic Coating to Enhance Fracture Conductivity

• Main Author: Shrey, Shubhankar
• Language: EN
• Published: University of Louisiana at Lafayette 2019
• Subjects: Engineering|Petroleum engineering
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10981390

<p> Superhydrophobic coating reduces the fluid/solid interaction leading to ultra-hydrophobicity or the Lotus effect. The objective of this study is to determine how this phenomenon can be applied in petroleum production systems to enhance fluid flow in propped fractures using superhydrophobic coating on the surface of proppants. Permeability and wettability of coated sandstone samples are compared with the non-coated ones to create a base case for the study. Later sand packs are tested to determine the magnitude of enhancement in fracture conductivity after the modification is applied on sand proppants. The samples are measured for their absolute permeability and relative permeabilities to test the changes in flow for both the single-phase and two-phase fluid flow. The test results show a considerable increase of up to 98% for the single-phase flow and a 23% for the two-phase flow for the sand pack samples. The wettability test confirms that the coating modifies the samples from its initial water-wet state to a partial-wet state. Since the production rate of tight and shale reservoirs is low especially in liquid-rich reservoirs, a significant amount of water is injected for reservoir stimulation; enhancement in fracture conductivity as a result of proppant surface modification can have a meaningful impact on the recovery of these reservoirs. This study uses experimental techniques to show the effectiveness of superhydrophobic coating on the reduction of friction which can lead to enhancement in fracture conductivity. </p><p>