Mossman Kumar & Tyler PC
Solids suspension with nanoparticle-associated viscoelastic surfactant micellar fluids
An aqueous, viscoelastic fluid gelled with a viscoelastic surfactant (VES) may suspend solids such as proppants, gravel, drilling debris, waste solids and the like with an effective amount of a nano-sized additive including, but not necessarily limited to alkaline earth metal oxides, alkaline earth metal hydroxides, alkali metal oxides, alkali metal hydroxides, transition metal oxides, transition metal hydroxides, post-transition metal oxides, and post-transition metal hydroxides. The additives may also reduce the amount of VES required to maintain a given viscosity. These viscoelastic surfactant gelled aqueous fluids may be used as treatment fluids for subterranean hydrocarbon formations, such as in hydraulic fracturing, gravel packing and the like. The magnesium oxide, zinc oxide or other nanometer scale-sized additives are at a scale that may provide unique particle charges that use chemisorption, crosslinking and/or other chemistries to associate the micelles and suspend the solids.
BAKER HUGHES INCORPORATED
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James B. Tianping
Crews Huang