Mossman Kumar & Tyler PC
Controlling coal fines in coal bed operations
The migration of coal fines within a bed is reduced, inhibited or constrained by contacting the fines with nanoparticles, such as magnesium oxide crystals having an average particle size of about 30 nm. These nanoparticles may coat a proppant during the fracturing of a subterranean formation to produce methane from a coal bed therein. The nanoparticles may also treat a proppant pack in a fractured coal bed. The nanoparticles cause the coal fines to thus bind to or associate with the proppants. Thus, most of the coal fines entering fractures away from the near-wellbore region will be restrained or controlled near their origin or source and the production of methane at a desired level will be maintained much longer than a similar situation than where the nanoparticles are not used.
Baker Hughes Incorporated
C E E C C C C
C09K E21B E21B C09K C09K C09K C09K
additional inventional inventional inventional inventional inventional inventional
James B. Allen D. Tianping Rick M.
Crews Gabrysch Huang Jeffrey