Organosilane Coatings for Subterranean Wettability Modification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for stimulating subterranean hydrocarbon reservoirs and hydraulic fracturing fail to effectively address wettability issues in sandstone formations, leading to water-blocks and reduced hydrocarbon productivity due to the temporary nature of surfactant modifications and incompatibilities with carrier fluids.
Innovation Solution
The use of organosilanes with specific chemical formulas (RnSiX4-n) to form coatings that permanently modify the wettability of proppant packs and surrounding surfaces, providing long-term hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties through covalent bonding, which can degrade to optimize fluid flowback and hydrocarbon production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Duration of action of stationary object
If surfactants are used to modify formation wettability, then wettability modification is achieved, but the modification is temporary and surfactants are swept from the formation surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical nature of the wettability modifying agent from conventional surfactants to organosilanes. This parameter change enables covalent bonding to the formation surface, transforming the temporary physical adsorption into a permanent chemical bond, thereby resolving the contradiction between achieving wettability modification and maintaining its persistence.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses organosilane compounds that form composite structures with the formation surface through covalent bonding. The silane molecules create a hybrid organic-inorganic coating that combines the wettability properties of organic groups with the stability of silicon-oxygen-silicon bonds to the quartz surface, achieving both effective wettability modification and long-term persistence.
2Ease of operation
If resin-coated proppants are used for proppant-flowback control, then flowback control is improved, but incompatibilities with carrier fluids occur due to polymer coating chemistry
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the coating material from polymer resin to organosilane. This parameter change eliminates the chemical incompatibility issues between polymer coatings and certain carrier fluids, while maintaining the desired proppant-flowback control through controlled degradation of the silane coating under downhole conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The organosilane coating is designed to be temporarily present during fracturing operations to provide flowback control, then degrade under downhole conditions (temperature, pH) to restore proppant permeability. This disposable approach resolves the contradiction by providing temporary protection that automatically disappears when no longer needed.
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
The organosilane coatings enhance permeability and conductivity within the proppant pack, facilitating efficient hydrocarbon production by maintaining or restoring the natural wettability of the formation, leading to improved hydrocarbon recovery and reduced water-block issues.
Implementation Method 1
modifying the wettability of a surface of the particulate or subterranean formation or both... through covalent bonding
Implementation Method 2
These surfactants have been widely proposed as additives for fracturing fluids that will absorb to solid substrates (such as formation or proppant) rendering those surfaces hydrophobic
Implementation Method 3
an organosilane with the chemical formula RnSiX4-n, wherein n is equal to 1, 2, or 3, R is an organic functional group, and X is a halogen, alkoxy, or acetoxy group
Data Source
AI summary
A method and composition for treating a subterranean formation with a fluid, including forming a fluid including a particulate and an organosilane with the chemical formula RnSiX4-n, wherein n is equal to 1, 2, or 3, R is an organic functional group, and X is a halogen, alkoxy, or acetoxy group, introducing the fluid into a subterranean formation with exposed surfaces, and modifying the wettability of a surface of the particulate or subterranean formation or both. A method and composition for treating a subterranean formation with a fluid including forming a fluid comprising a particulate and an organosilane, introducing the fluid into a subterranean formation with exposed surfaces, and modifying the wettability of the proppant or surfaces or both, wherein the wettability modification degrades.