Chemical plugs for preventing wellbore treatment fluid losses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10407609-B2
Application number	US-201715584638-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2017
Priority date	May 2, 2017
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

A lost-circulation material including a mixture of an aqueous colloidal dispersion and fatty acid. The aqueous colloidal dispersion includes silica nanoparticles and has a pH of at least 8. Combining the colloidal dispersion and the fatty acid initiates gelation of the lost-circulation material when the pH of the lost-circulation material is less than 8 and a temperature of the lost-circulation material is in a range of 5° C. to 300° C. Sealing an opening in a portion of a wellbore or a portion of a subterranean formation in which the wellbore is formed may include providing the aqueous colloidal dispersion and the fatty acid to the wellbore, mixing the colloidal dispersion and the fatty acid to yield the lost-circulation material, initiating gelation of the lost-circulation material, and solidifying the lost-circulation material in the wellbore to yield a set gel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lost-circulation material comprising a mixture of:
an aqueous colloidal dispersion comprising silica nanoparticles; and
a fatty acid, wherein a ratio of the fatty acid to the colloidal dispersion is in a range of 0.25 vol % to 4 vol %, and wherein the lost-circulation material is a gel.

2. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid comprises at least one of hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, octanoic acid, nonanoic acid, decanoic acid, undecanoic acid, and dodecanoic acid.

3. The lost-circulation material of claim 2 , wherein the fatty acid consists of at least one of hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, octanoic acid, nonanoic acid, decanoic acid, undecanoic acid, and dodecanoic acid.

4. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid comprises at least one of hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, and octanoic acid.

5. The lost-circulation material of claim 4 , wherein the fatty acid consists of at least one of hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, and octanoic acid.

6. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein the colloidal dispersion comprises at least one of a salt and a water-miscible organic solvent.

7. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein a size of the silica nanoparticles is in a range of about 1 nm to about 500 nm.

8. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein a concentration of the silica nanoparticles in the colloidal dispersion is in a range of about 10 wt % to about 50 wt %.

9. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the lost-circulation material is in a range of about 1 to about 6.

10. The lost-circulation material of claim 1 , wherein the gel is a solid gel or semi-solid gel.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Kalgaonkar Rajendra Arunkumar
• Wagle Vikrant Bhavanishankar
• Al-Yami Abdullah Saleh Hussain
• Almohsin Ayman Mohammed

Classifications

• C04B28/24

  containing alkyl, ammonium or metal silicates; containing silica sols {(reaction mixtures resulting in mineral polymers C04B28/006; polymeric reaction products of alkali metal silicates with isocyanates C08G18/3895)} · CPC title

• C09K2208/10

  Nanoparticle-containing well treatment fluids · CPC title

• C09K8/426

  for plugging · CPC title

• C09K8/487 Primary

  Fluid loss control additives; Additives for reducing or preventing circulation loss · CPC title

• C09K8/03 Primary

  Specific additives for general use in well-drilling compositions · CPC title