Degradable Material Temporary Plugs for Wellbore Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for multi-stage fracturing in wells, such as induced stress diversion, require extensive data and are costly, time-consuming, and not reliable in tight gas reservoirs, lacking a simple and effective way for temporary sealing and stress diversion.
Innovation Solution
A method using degradable materials, like polymers or co-polymers, to form temporary plugs in fractures or wellbores, which degrade over time, allowing for subsequent fracturing operations without the need for wireline intervention or removal, and enhancing stress diversion by high concentrations of fibers or proppants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If bridge plugs or packers are used for zone isolation in multi-stage fracturing, then zone isolation reliability is improved, but operation complexity and cost increase due to wireline intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses degradable materials (starch, cellulose, gelatin, proteins, or their derivatives) that temporarily plug the fracture and then degrade naturally over time, eliminating the need for permanent bridge plugs or packers. These short-living plugs provide temporary zone isolation during multi-stage fracturing without requiring wireline intervention for installation or retrieval, thus reducing operational complexity while maintaining isolation reliability during the treatment period.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the temporal parameter of the plug material by using substances that undergo degradation over time. The plug transitions from a solid blocking state to a degraded/dispersed state, allowing temporary zone isolation followed by natural fracture reopening. This parameter change eliminates the need for mechanical retrieval operations while maintaining isolation effectiveness during the required treatment window.
2Device complexity
If degradable materials are used for temporary plugging, then operation complexity and cost are reduced, but plugging durability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully selects and formulates degradable materials with controlled degradation rates that match the required treatment duration. By adjusting material composition (starch, cellulose, gelatin, proteins, or their derivatives) and environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, microbial presence), the plug maintains structural integrity long enough to complete multi-stage fracturing operations, then degrades naturally when no longer needed, achieving both temporary durability and eventual removal without intervention.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables efficient and reliable multi-stage fracturing with reduced costs and time, as the degradable plugs dissolve naturally, maintaining high stress diversion and preventing proppant flowback, thus optimizing fracturing treatments.
Implementation Method 1
The degradable material degrades after a selected duration under the downhole conditions such that no additional intervention is needed to remove the plug
Data Source
AI summary
A method for well treatment by forming a temporary plug in a fracture, a perforation, a wellbore, or more than one of these locations, in a well penetrating a subterranean formation is provided, in which the method of well treatment includes: injecting a slurry comprising a degradable material, allowing the degradable material to form a plug in a perforation, a fracture, or a wellbore in a well penetrating a formation; performing a downhole operation; and allowing the degradable material to degrade after a selected time such that the plug disappears.