Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7721804?dq=5,870,513
Timestamp: 2014-03-16 15:54:57
Document Index: 748774492

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 200800008', 'Application No. 200700583', 'Application No. 200701830', 'Application No. 200700583', 'Application No. 200700296', 'Application No. 200700583', 'Application No. 200580030660', 'Application No. 200680038963']

Patent US7721804 - Proppants for gel clean-up - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsMethods of incorporating a chemical breaker onto a proppant that will permit release of the breaker after the proppant has been placed in a hydraulic fracture are provided. The methods utilize a chemical breaker coated on the surface of a non-porous proppant grain or placed in the pore space of a porous...http://www.google.com/patents/US7721804?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7721804 - Proppants for gel clean-upAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7721804 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/166,504Publication dateMay 25, 2010Filing dateJul 2, 2008Priority dateJul 6, 2007Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20090008093, WO2009009370A1Publication number12166504, 166504, US 7721804 B2, US 7721804B2, US-B2-7721804, US7721804 B2, US7721804B2InventorsRobert John DuenckelOriginal AssigneeCarbo Ceramics Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (100), Non-Patent Citations (81), Referenced by (2), Classifications (7), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetProppants for gel clean-upUS 7721804 B2Abstract Methods of incorporating a chemical breaker onto a proppant that will permit release of the breaker after the proppant has been placed in a hydraulic fracture are provided. The methods utilize a chemical breaker coated on the surface of a non-porous proppant grain or placed in the pore space of a porous proppant grain and secondarily coated with an outer layer which can be tailored to delay the release of the breaker.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application is a non-provisional of U.S. Patent Application No. 60/948,384, filed on Jul. 6, 2007, entitled �Proppants for Gel Clean-Up,� which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
BACKGROUND Oil and natural gas are produced from wells having porous and permeable subterranean formations. The porosity of the formation permits the formation to store oil and gas, and the permeability of the formation permits the oil or gas fluid to move through the formation. Permeability of the formation is essential to permit oil and gas to flow to a location where it can be pumped or flowed from the well. In many cases the permeability of the formation holding the gas or oil is insufficient for economic recovery of oil and gas. In other cases, during operation of the well, the productivity of the formation drops to the extent that further recovery becomes uneconomical. In such cases, it is necessary to hydraulically fracture the formation and prop the fracture in an open condition by means of a proppant material or propping agent. Such fracturing is usually accomplished by hydraulic pressure, and the proppant material or propping agent is a particulate material, such as sand, resin coated sand or ceramic particles (all of which can be referred to as �proppant�), which are carried into the fracture by means of a fracturing fluid, typically containing high molecular weight polymers, such as guar gum, guar gum derivatives such as hydroxypropyl guar (HPG), carboxymethyl HPG (CMHPG), cellulose, cellulose derivatives such as hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), biopolymers, such as xanthan gum and polyvinyl alcohol, which increase the viscosity of the fracturing fluid.
Crosslinking agents can also be added to the fracturing fluid to generate cross-linked gelled fluids so as provide even higher viscosities, better proppant transport properties and to create fracture geometries not possible with other types of fluids. These cross-linked gelled fluids are highly viscous but non-Newtonian and shear thinning permitting them to be easy placed. While the viscous nature of the fluids is important for proppant transport, once the proppant is placed in the fracture it is not desirable for such fluids to remain in the proppant pack as the fluids can significantly hinder the flow of oil or gas in the propped fracture. In recognition of this, the fracturing fluids include �breakers� of various types that are designed to break the cross-linking bonds and reduce the molecular weight of the polymeric materials in such fracturing fluids after the proppant is placed thus dramatically reducing the viscosity of the fracturing fluid and allowing it to be easily flowed back to the surface from the proppant pack. Such chemical breakers are typically added directly to the fluid. While the breakers are designed to break the cross-linking bonds and reduce the molecular weight of the polymeric materials in such fluids and significantly lower the viscosity of the fluids, it is important the breakers not reduce the fluid viscosity and transport capability prematurely while the fluid is being pumped. If a premature �break� of the fluid occurs during the fracturing operation, the loss of viscosity will dramatically limit the transport characteristics of the fracturing fluid. If this occurs while pumping, proppant can accumulate near the well bore rather than being carried into the created fracture. Such near well bore accumulation of proppant can lead to an early termination of a fracturing job due to excessive pumping pressure. This early termination is often referred to as a �screen out�. Conventional techniques for attempting to avoid an early breaking of the fluid viscosity have included limiting the amount of breaker added to the fracturing fluid and/or encapsulating the breaker with a material that will limit the contact of the breaker with the high molecular weight and/or cross-linked polymers in the fracturing fluid during pumping.
Encapsulated breakers are simple pellets consisting entirely of breaker with a permeable coating. Such pellets are incorporated in a fracturing fluid along with the proppant in the anticipation that the breaker will be released and effectively break the surrounding gel. However, laboratory and field testing suggests that the �encapsulated breaker� pellets incorporated into a fracturing fluid are ineffective at contacting all the fracturing fluid, either due to physical separation/segregation of the proppant and encapsulated breaker pellets, or due to inadequate concentrations.
Other laboratory testing of conventional breaker systems demonstrates that such systems are often ineffective at removing the gel. The breakers are particularly poor at breaking and cleaning up the gel filter cake. A gel filter cake is often formed on the created fracture face during the hydraulic fracturing operation. The filter cake forms as hydraulic pressure in the fracture causes the liquid phase of the fracturing fluid to �leak off� into the permeable formation. The high molecular weight and/or cross linked gel particles are too large to enter the pores of the formation and consequently are filtered out at the fracture face creating a thin layer of highly concentrated gel referred to as a filter cake. This layer of filter cake is very resilient and can sometimes completely occlude the entire width of the created fracture upon closure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a graph of the release profile in terms of sodium persulfate released as a function of time for proppant coated with sodium persulfate and then coated again with polyvinylidene chloride; and
DETAILED DESCRIPTION Methods and compositions for breaking and removing residual gel and gel filter cake that results from the use of viscous gelled fracturing fluids are described. According to embodiments of the present invention, a gel breaking composition is coated on proppant grains, impregnated in the pore spaces of a porous ceramic proppant grain or both. Proppants for use in the methods and compositions of the present invention include lightweight ceramic proppants, intermediate strength ceramic proppants, high strength ceramic proppants, natural frac sands, glass beads, other ceramic bodies and resin coated proppants used in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. Suitable proppants are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,068,718, 4,427,068, 4,440,866 and 5,188,175, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. According to such methods and compositions, the chemical reactivity of the gel breaking composition and the gel occurs in the immediate vicinity of the proppant grains.
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