Well treatment fiber delivery system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10465490-B2
Application number	US-201615212325-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2016
Priority date	Jul 18, 2016
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

A fiber delivery system capable of providing cut fiber segments for use in treating an oil and/or gas well. The fiber delivery system can utilize bales of a continuous filamentary tow that are transported to the well site from a remote manufacturing location. At the well site, a multifilament strand can be pulled off the bale, opened, and cut to provide cut fiber segments. The cut fiber segments can be mixed with other well treatment components to create a well treatment medium that is introduced into the well as part of a drilling, stimulation, or cementing process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A well treatment method comprising:
(a) providing at least 100 meters of a continuous filamentary tow in the form of a bale wherein said continuous filamentary tow is formed of a water degradable material that exhibits a weight loss of at least 75 percent after 7 days in liquid deionized water maintained at 130° C.;
(b) drawing a strand of said filamentary tow off said bale, wherein said strand comprises a plurality of individual continuous filaments;
(c) increasing the average spacing between said individual continuous filaments of said strand to thereby produce an opened strand, wherein said strand is passed over at least one smooth surface at a bend angle of less than 70 degrees;
(d) cutting said opened strand into cut fiber segments;
(e) combining said cut fiber segments with one or more additional components to form a well treatment medium; and
(f) introducing said well treatment medium into a well.

2. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said bale comprises at least 100,000 meters of said continuous filamentary tow.

3. The well treatment method of claim 2 , wherein said bale has a volume in the range of 0.1 to 25 cubic meters, a density in the range of 100 to 5,000 kilograms per cubic meter, and a weight in the range of 100 to 5,000 kilograms, wherein said continuous filamentary tow makes up at least 50 percent of the total weight of said bale.

4. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said continuous filamentary tow comprises one or more material selected from the group consisting of a cellulose ester and polyvinyl alcohol.

5. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein cellulose acetate makes up at least 50 weight percent of said continuous filamentary tow in said bale.

6. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said strand is pulled from said bale at a rate of at least 0.25 meters per second.

7. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said strand comprises in the range of 25 to 500,000 of said individual continuous filaments, wherein said strand has a total denier in the range of 100 to 1,000,000, and wherein each individual continuous filament of said strand has a denier per filament in the range of 0.1 to 100.

8. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said increasing of step (c) causes a peripheral dimension of said strand to increase by at least 10 percent.

9. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said strand drawn off said bale is crimped and wherein said increasing of step (c) at least partially decrimps said strand to thereby increase the length of said strand by at least 10 percent.

10. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said increasing of step (c) includes at least one of the following steps: tensioning said strand, mechanically flattening said strand, mechanically separating said strand, and pneumatically spreading said strand.

11. The well treatment method of claim 10 , wherein said tensioning includes differential tensioning using threaded rolls and/or differential gripping rolls.

12. The well treatment method of claim 10 , wherein said increasing of step (c) includes mechanically flattening said strand in a manner such that a maximum width of said strand increases by at least 50 percent.

13. The well treatment method of claim 12 , wherein said mechanically flattening includes pressing said strand between two rollers.

14. The well treatment method of claim 10 , wherein said increasing of step (c) includes mechanically separating said strand by passing said strand over and/or through a comb mechanism having multiple teeth for physically dividing groups of said individual continuous filaments.

15. The well treatment method of claim 10 , wherein said increasing of step (c) includes pneumatically spreading said strand by forcing air between at least a portion of said individual continuous filaments.

16. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said cut fiber segments have a length in the range of 0.5 to 100 millimeters.

17. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said well treatment medium comprises in the range of 0.5 to 50 weight percent of said cut fiber segments, and wherein said one or more additional components of said well treatment medium are selected from the group consisting of a proppant, a carrier fluid, a viscosifying agent, a cement composition, and combinations thereof.

18. The well treatment method of claim 1 , further comprising using said well treatment medium for hydraulic fracturing of said well.

19. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein all of steps (b) through (e) are performed within 500 meters of said well.

20. The well treatment method of claim 1 , wherein said providing of step (a) includes manufacturing said bale at a fiber manufacturing facility and transporting said bale from said fiber manufacturing facility to a bale station, wherein said fiber manufacturing facility and said bale station are spaced at least 15 kilometers apart and wherein said bale station is located within 500 meters of said well.

21. A well treatment system comprising:
(a) a bale station for receiving a bale of continuous filamentary tow, wherein said continuous filamentary tow is formed of a water degradable material that exhibits a weight loss of at least 75 percent after 7 days in liquid deionized water maintained at 130° C.;
(b) a puller for drawing a strand of said continuous filamentary tow off said bale, wherein said strand comprises at least 100 individual continuous filaments;
(c) an opener for receiving said strand and increasing the average spacing between said individual continuous filaments, thereby producing an opened strand, wherein said opener comprises a flattening surface across which said strand passes at a bend angle of less than 170 degrees; and
(d) a chopper for cutting said opened strand into cut fiber segments.

22. The well treatment system of claim 21 , wherein said opener comprises at least one of the following: (i) a tensioning mechanism for imparting tension on said strand; (ii) a pair of rollers for flattening said strand therebetween; and (iii) one or more pneumatic nozzles for directing high velocity air toward said strand.

23. The well treatment system of claim 21 , wherein said puller comprises a pair of rotating rollers defining a nip for receiving said strand.

24. The well treatment system of claim 21 , further comprising a portable structure, wherein said puller, said opener, and said chopper are all mounted to said portable structure.

25. The well treatment system of claim 21 , further comprising a liquid storage container for providing a liquid treatment component to said mixer for mixing with said cut fiber segments; and a solids storage container for provided a solids treatment component to said mixer for mixing with said cut fiber segments.

26. The well treatment system of claim 25 , further comprising a mixer for combining said cut segments with one or more additional components to form a well treatment medium; and an injector for introducing said well treatment medium into a well.

27. The well treatment method of claim 1 , further comprising treating said cut fiber segments with a surface activating agent and/or a degradation promoting agent after said cutting of step (d).

Assignees

• Eastman Chem Co

Inventors

• Collins Nick Allen
• Islam S M Bedarul
• Seiler Brian Douglas
• Sheppard Ronald Buford
• Wilson Steven Anthony

Classifications

• C09K8/487

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

• E21B43/25

  Methods for stimulating production {(by vibrating earth formations E21B43/003)} · CPC title

• C09K8/70

  characterised by their form or by the form of their components, e.g. foams · CPC title

• C09K8/035 Primary

  Organic additives · CPC title

• E21B21/003

  Means for stopping loss of drilling fluid (plastering the borehole wall E21B33/138) · CPC title