Study on fluid-rock interaction and reuse of flowback fluid for gel fracturing in desert area

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing requires a large volume of fresh water, which is difficult and expensive to obtain in the desert area such as Tarim Basin. Currently, flowback fluid is typically transported to the sewage treatment plant and then discharged after reaching environmental requirements; however, this is not only costly, but also a waste of water resource. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the potential interactions between fracturing fluid and reservoir rock, and then find solutions to reuse the flowback water for subsequent fracturing. In this study, once flowback fluid was directly collected from the field, its chemical compositions were analyzed; then, filtering, decoloring, and chelating methods were chosen to effectively remove or shield the unfavorable reintroduced components. Moreover, pH value was further tuned during different stages of the recycling process to ensure good gelation and cross-linking properties of guar. Cross-linked guar synthesized with the flowback fluid was evaluated in the lab through shear resistance tests and coreflood tests under the reservoir conditions; results indicated the recycled gel behaved similarly as the original gel, or even better. From this work, a cheap and effective treatment process was proposed to reuse the flowback fluid in the desert area.