Protein Gel Plugging Agent for Low-Temperature Reservoir Acidizing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gel temporary plugging agents are ineffective in low-temperature reservoirs due to high degradation temperatures and do not meet the requirements of low-temperature environments, leading to poor acidizing effects and pipeline blockages.
Innovation Solution
A gel temporary plugging agent composed of an animal protein structural unit, a reinforcing agent structural unit, and a cross-linking structural unit, forming a three-dimensional network structure that degrades into linear polypeptide chains under low-temperature conditions, reinforced by a reinforcing agent to enhance plugging performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If gel temporary plugging agents with high degradation temperature (70-180°C) are used, then they can maintain structural stability, but they cannot degrade effectively in low-temperature reservoirs (20-60°C)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the gel plugging agent by using animal protein (containing peptide bonds) as the base material instead of conventional synthetic polymers. This parameter change enables the gel to degrade at lower temperatures through hydrolysis of peptide bonds, while maintaining structural stability through cross-linking with reinforcing agents and cross-linking agents.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite gel system comprising animal protein structural units, reinforcing agent structural units, and cross-linking structural units. This composite structure combines the degradability of animal protein with the mechanical strength of reinforcing agents (acrylamide or acrylamide sulfonic units) and the structural stability provided by cross-linking agents, enabling both low-temperature degradation and structural integrity.
2Reliability
If fiber temporary plugging agents are used, then they can form effective filter mesh structures, but they cause pipeline blockages and have high usage costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the solid fiber form into a gel form that can be pumped and transported through pipelines as a fluid or semi-fluid material. The gel maintains its plugging functionality while eliminating the pipeline blockage issues associated with fibrous materials during injection and placement operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state parameter from solid fibers to gel form, which allows the material to flow through pipelines during injection while maintaining its ability to form effective filter mesh structures once placed in the reservoir. This parameter change eliminates pipeline blockages while preserving filtering effectiveness.
3Device complexity
If conventional acidizing is performed without temporary plugging, then the process is simple, but acid solution fingers into high-permeability zones causing poor acidizing effects in low-permeability reservoirs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies temporary plugging as a preliminary action before acidizing to control acid flow paths. The gel plugging agent is injected first to temporarily block high-permeability zones, forcing the subsequent acid solution to flow into low-permeability zones that would otherwise be bypassed, thereby improving overall acidizing effectiveness.
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 gel temporary plugging agent effectively plugs low-temperature reservoirs, achieving a hardness of 42.0 N, elasticity of 9.50 mm, and plugging pressure of 24.69 MPa with controlled degradation time of 1.3-4.1 days, suitable for low-temperature applications.
Implementation Method 1
The gel temporary plugging agent provided by the present disclosure has a three-dimensional network structure formed by cross-linking the animal protein, which can be degraded into linear polypeptide chains in an acid solution under a low-temperature condition
Implementation Method 2
an animal protein structural unit, a reinforcing agent structural unit, and a cross-linking structural unit, where the animal protein structural unit and the reinforcing agent structural unit are chemically bonded via the cross-linking structural unit to form a three-dimensional network structure
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a gel temporary plugging agent and a preparation method and use thereof. The gel temporary plugging agent has a three-dimensional network structure formed by cross-linking an animal protein, which can be degraded into linear polypeptide chains in an acid solution under a low-temperature condition, thereby achieving a temporary plugging effect; it is reinforced by introducing a reinforcing agent structural unit to ensure plugging performance of the gel temporary plugging agent, thereby enabling the gel temporary plugging agent to achieve plugging in low-temperature reservoirs.