Evaluation of N-ethyl perfluorooctyl sulfonamide as a thickener of supercritical carbon dioxide

Usage of supercritical CO2 (Sc-CO2) as fracturing and displacing fluid is given much attention in recent years. It enables the prevention of issues related to hydraulic fracturing such as formation damage, clay swelling, capillary trapping, and consumption of a high volume of water. However, the low proppant carrying capacity, high frictional resistance, and fast filtration of Sc-CO2 are the challenges that require further research. Characterization of shale samples for implementation of Sc-CO2 as a fracturing fluid consists of imaging and qualitative analysis, identification of crystalline phases presents in material and determination of pore size distribution, surface area, micropore volume, porosity, and matrix density. Shale samples from Eagle Ford (EF-1. EF-2), Mancos (MC), and Wolfcamp (WF) shale formations have been characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), surface area analyzer and porosimetry system (SAP) and Helium Porosimeter. From FESEM and EDX experiment, among all the samples, EF-1 has the highest carbon content (25.97), EF-2 is mostly calcium dominant (33.17) and WF has quartz having the presence of 3.37 of silicon. The existence of these elements and compounds are also validated by the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the XRD patterns. FESEM estimates that all these shale samples have the presence of mostly mesopores. Results from SAP experiment show that BJH adsorption average pore diameter of EF-1, MC and WF 30.8490, 8.5128, and 26.4318 nm respectively and it validates FESEM result. In terms of porosity, MC has the highest (7.4), while EF-1 has the lowest (2.01). For eradicating the problem of low proppant carrying capacity of Sc-CO2, thickening agents such as N-ethyl perfluorooctyl sulfonamide, a viscoelastic surfactant (VES) is used in this study. The molecular simulation study of N-ethyl perfluorooctyl sulfonamide to Sc-CO2 increases the viscosity of Sc-CO2.170 times than the actual viscosity of Sc-CO2. Although this an excellent result to derive yet the experimental validation of this result is needed to pave its implementation on real field scenarios. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.