Proppant treatments for mitigating erosion of equipment in subterranean fracturing operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10988683-B2
Application number	US-202016933346-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Feb 1, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for treating proppant to mitigate erosion of equipment used in certain subterranean fracturing operations are provided. In some embodiments, the methods comprise: conveying a plurality of coated proppant particulates into a blender, wherein the coated proppant particulates comprise at least a partial coating of DFR and/or a hydratable polymer; blending the plurality of coated proppant particulates with an aqueous base fluid in the blender to form a treatment fluid; and introducing the treatment fluid from the blender into at least a portion of a subterranean formation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
conveying a plurality of proppant particulates into a blender at a job site;
while conveying the plurality of proppant particulates into the blender, contacting a plurality of proppant particulates with an aqueous liquid concentrate comprising a hydratable polymer to at least partially coat one or more of the proppant particulates with the hydratable polymer, thereby forming coated proppant particulates;
blending the plurality of proppant particulates comprising the coated proppant particulates with an aqueous base fluid in the blender to form a treatment fluid, the treatment fluid having a viscosity of about 25 cP or less; and
introducing the treatment fluid from the blender into at least a portion of a subterranean formation that includes at least one fracture,
such that the coated proppant particulates are formed on-the-fly during the conveying and immediately utilized to form the treatment fluid in the blending step.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment fluid is introduced into a well bore at the job site that penetrates at least a portion of the subterranean formation.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment fluid is introduced into at least a portion of the subterranean formation using one or more pumps.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, after the step of introducing the treatment fluid into at least a portion of the subterranean formation:
allowing at least a portion of the hydratable polymer on the coated proppant particulates to detach from the proppant particulates and disperse into the treatment fluid.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising depositing at least a portion of the plurality of proppant particulates in the at least one fracture.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the viscosity of the treatment fluid is less than about 10 cP.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the viscosity of the treatment fluid is from about 3 cP to about 5 cP.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising: while conveying the plurality of proppant particulates into the blender, contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with a functionalizing agent before the step of contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with the aqueous liquid concentrate comprising the hydratable polymer.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the functionalizing agent comprises an organosilane.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of proppant particulate are conveyed into the blender using an auger, a sand screw, or both.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with the aqueous liquid concentrate comprising the hydratable polymer comprises spraying the aqueous liquid concentrate into the plurality of proppant particulates as the proppant particulates are dispensed from a storage container.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising blending a breaker additive with the aqueous base fluid and the plurality of proppant particulates in the blender to form the treatment fluid.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydratable polymer comprises at least two monomeric units selected from the group consisting of: acrylamide, acrylic acid, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, N,N-dimethylacrylamide, vinyl sulfonic acid, N-vinyl acetamide, N-vinyl formamide, itaconic acid, methacrylic acid, an acrylic acid ester, a methacrylic acid ester, and any combination thereof.

14. A method comprising:
introducing an aqueous fracturing fluid into a well bore penetrating at least a portion of a subterranean formation at or above a pressure sufficient to create or enhance at least one fracture in the subterranean formation, the aqueous fracturing fluid having a viscosity of about 25 cP or less;
conveying a plurality of proppant particulates from a storage container into a blender at a job site where the well bore is located;
while conveying the plurality of proppant particulates into the blender, contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with an aqueous liquid concentrate comprising a hydratable polymer to at least partially coat a portion of the proppant particulates with the hydratable polymer, thereby forming coated proppant particulates;
blending the plurality of proppant particulates comprising the coated proppant particulates with an aqueous base fluid in the blender to form a treatment fluid, the treatment fluid having a viscosity of about 25 cP or less; and
introducing the treatment fluid from the blender into the well bore,
such that the coated proppant particulates are formed on-the-fly during the conveying and immediately utilized to form the treatment fluid in the blending step.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, after the step of introducing the treatment fluid into the well bore:
allowing at least a portion of them the hydratable polymer on the coated proppant particulates to detach from the proppant particulates and disperse into the treatment fluid.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising depositing at least a portion of the plurality of proppant particulates in at least one fracture in the subterranean formation.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the plurality of proppant particulate are conveyed into the blender using an auger, a sand screw, or both.

18. A method comprising:
introducing an aqueous fracturing fluid into a well bore penetrating at least a portion of a subterranean formation at or above a pressure sufficient to create or enhance at least one fracture in the subterranean formation, the aqueous fracturing fluid having a viscosity of about 25 cP or less;
using an auger, a sand screw, or a combination thereof to convey a plurality of proppant particulates from a storage container into a blender at a job site where the well bore is located;
while conveying the plurality of proppant particulates into the blender,
contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with a functionalizing agent, and
contacting the plurality of proppant particulates with an aqueous liquid concentrate comprising a hydratable polymer to at least partially coat a portion of the proppant particulates with the hydratable polymer, thereby forming coated proppant particulates;

blending the plurality of proppant particulates comprising the coated proppant particulates with an aqueous base fluid in the blender to form a treatment fluid, the treatment fluid having a viscosity of about 25 cP or less; and
introducing the treatment fluid from the blender into the well bore,
such that the coated proppant particulates are formed on-the-fly during the conveying and immediately utilized to form the treatment fluid in the blending step.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising depositing at least a portion of the plurality of proppant particulates in the at least one fracture.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising blending a breaker additive with the aqueous base fluid and the plurality of proppant particulates in the blender to form the treatment fluid.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc
• Halliburton Energy Sendees Inc

Inventors

• Nguyen Philip D
• Montalvo Janette Cortez
• An Jun Su

Classifications

• C09K8/805 Primary

  Coated proppants · CPC title

• E21B43/13

  specially adapted to dewatering of wells of gas producing reservoirs, e.g. methane producing coal beds · CPC title

• C09K2208/24

  Bacteria or enzyme containing gel breakers · CPC title

• C09K8/66

  Compositions based on water or polar solvents (C09K8/64 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C09K2208/26

  Gel breakers other than bacteria or enzymes · CPC title