Journal Home > Volume 3 , Issue 2

The recovered fracturing fluid is generally high in salinity (close to 200 kppm), which is related to the diffusion of salt ions from shale reservoir to the fracturing fluid. However, it is not clear about the diffusion capacity of salt ions in different types. In this paper, the shale, tight volcanic and sandstone are selected as comparative study and a series of tests are carried out for the porosity, permeability and mineral composition. The results show that the shale immersing in fracturing fluid will cause ions dissolution and diffusion, which will increase the salinity of the fracturing fluid. The solution salinity increases rapidly in the early stage and gradually slows down in the later stage. The salinity of the fracturing fluid has a linear relationship with the square root of time, so the slope of the curve can be used as a characteristic parameter to evaluate the ion diffusion rate. The process of dissolution and diffusion of salt ions will induce the expansion of micro-cracks, increasing the contact area between the fracturing fluid and shale and enhancing the solution salinity. The ion diffusion rate is positively related with the content of clay minerals and carbonate. The soluble ions include mainly SO42-, Ca2+, Na+ and K+. The Na+/ Cl- ratio is closely related to the content of clay minerals and carbonate minerals. It has a positive correlation with content of illite and chlorite, and a negative correlation with carbonate minerals, suggesting NaCl source from illite and chlorite. This study is significant for understanding the salinity characteristics of recovered fracturing fluid and evaluating the fracture network shape.


menu
Abstract
Full text
Outline
About this article

A comparative study of ion diffusion during water imbibition in shale, sandstone and volcanic rock

Show Author's information Liu Yang( )Chenjiu ChenYifan LiuYuanhan Zheng
State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, P. R. China

Abstract

The recovered fracturing fluid is generally high in salinity (close to 200 kppm), which is related to the diffusion of salt ions from shale reservoir to the fracturing fluid. However, it is not clear about the diffusion capacity of salt ions in different types. In this paper, the shale, tight volcanic and sandstone are selected as comparative study and a series of tests are carried out for the porosity, permeability and mineral composition. The results show that the shale immersing in fracturing fluid will cause ions dissolution and diffusion, which will increase the salinity of the fracturing fluid. The solution salinity increases rapidly in the early stage and gradually slows down in the later stage. The salinity of the fracturing fluid has a linear relationship with the square root of time, so the slope of the curve can be used as a characteristic parameter to evaluate the ion diffusion rate. The process of dissolution and diffusion of salt ions will induce the expansion of micro-cracks, increasing the contact area between the fracturing fluid and shale and enhancing the solution salinity. The ion diffusion rate is positively related with the content of clay minerals and carbonate. The soluble ions include mainly SO42-, Ca2+, Na+ and K+. The Na+/ Cl- ratio is closely related to the content of clay minerals and carbonate minerals. It has a positive correlation with content of illite and chlorite, and a negative correlation with carbonate minerals, suggesting NaCl source from illite and chlorite. This study is significant for understanding the salinity characteristics of recovered fracturing fluid and evaluating the fracture network shape.

Keywords: imbibition, fracturing fluid, Ions diffusion, clay minerals

References(15)

Cai, J., Xia, Y., Lu, C., et al. Creeping microstructure and fractal permeability model of natural gas hydrate reservoir. Mar. Pet. Geol. 2020a, 115: 104282.
Cai, J., Xia, Y., Xu, S., et al. Advances in multiphase seepage characteristics of natural gas hydrate sediments. Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics 2020b, 52(1): 208-223. (in Chinese)
Cheng, C., Perfect, E., Donnelly, B., et al. Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock. Adv. Water Resour. 2015, 77: 82-89.
Fakcharoenphol, P., Kazemi, H., Charoenwongsa, S., et al. The effect of osmotic pressure on improve oil recovery from fractured shale formations. Paper SPE 168998 Presented at SPE Unconventional Resources Conference, The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 1-3 April, 2014.
DOI
Gdanski, R.D., Fulton, D.D., Johnson, B.J. Returns matching reveals new tools for fracture/reservoir evaluation. Paper SPE 133806 Presented at Tight Gas Completions Conference, San Antonio, Texas, USA, 2-3 November, 2010.
DOI
Ghanbari, E., Abbasi, M.A., Dehghanpour, H., et al. Flowback volumetric and chemical analysis for evaluating load recovery and its impact on early-time production. Paper SPE 167165 Presented at SPE Unconventional Resources Conference Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 5-7 November, 2013.
DOI
Haluszczak, L.O., Rose, A.W., Kump, L.R. Geochemical evaluation of flowback brine from Marcellus gas wells in Pennsylvania, USA. Appl. Geochem. 2013, 28: 55-61.
Li, J., Li, X., Wang, X., et al. Water distribution characteristic and effect on methane adsorption capacity in shale clay. Int. J. Coal Geol. 2016, 159: 135-154.
Li, S., Hou, S. A brief review of the correlation between electrical properties and wetting behaviour in porous media. Capillarity 2019, 2(3): 53-56.
Mahabadi, N., Zheng, X., Jang, J. The effect of hydrate saturation on water retention curves in hydrate-bearing sediments. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2016, 43(9): 4279-4287.
Meng, M., Ge, H., Ji, W., et al. Research on the auto removal mechanism of shale aqueous phase trapping using low field nuclear magnetic resonance technique. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 2016, 137: 63-73.
Sun, Y., Lu, H., Lu, C., et al. Hydrate dissociation induced by gas diffusion from pore water to drilling fluid in a cold wellbore. Adv. Geo-Energy Res. 2018, 2(4): 410-417.
Tao, Z., Zhao, F., Wang, H., et al. Innovative constant resistance large deformation bolt for rock support in high stressed rock mass. Arab. J. Geosci. 2017, 10(15): 341.
Yang, L., Ge, H., Shi, X., et al. Experimental and numerical study on the relationship between water imbibition and salt ion diffusion in fractured shale reservoirs. J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 2017a, 38: 283-297.
Yang, L., Shi, X., Ge, H., et al. Quantitative investigation on the characteristics of ions transport into water in gas shale: Marine and continental shale as comparative study. J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng. 2017b, 46: 251-264.
Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Rights and permissions

Publication history

Received: 13 May 2020
Revised: 27 May 2020
Accepted: 28 May 2020
Published: 01 June 2020
Issue date: June 2020

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2020

Acknowledgements

The research is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11702296), and by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2462019YJRC011).

Rights and permissions

This article, published at Yandy Scientific Press on behalf of the Division of Porous Flow, Hubei Province Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Return