BUBBLE-ENHANCED PROPPANT FOR WELL FRACTURING

摘要

Stable, gas-fil!ed bubbles on the surface of proppant particles are formed by placing proppant in selected organic solvent having a much greater solubility of a selected gas compared to water, pressurizing the solvent with the selected gas, e.g., nitrogen, at pressures equal of greater than the operating pressure for a set time period to achieve saturation, and then replacing the solvent with water before reducing the pressure back to operating pressure level to create a local supersaturation near the solvent-solid interface, which will result in gas-filled bubble formation on the surface of proppant particles. The pressurized mixture of bubble surrounded proppant particles and water can then be combined with a respective fracturing fluid, e.g., slick water or carbon dioxide and/or nitrogen foam or an emulsion, which can be used in oil or gas producing wells to improve efficiency of hydraulic fracturing thereof.