**Experimental Investigation of the Impacts of Fracturing Fluid on the Evolution of Fluid Composition and Shale Characteristics: A Case Study of the Niutitang Shale in Hunan Province, South China**

**Jingqiang Tan 1,2, Guolai Li 1,2, Ruining Hu 1,2, Lei Li 1,2,\*, Qiao Lyu 1,2 and Je** ff**rey Dick 1,2**


Received: 11 June 2020; Accepted: 26 June 2020; Published: 29 June 2020

**Abstract:** Hydraulic fracturing is a widely used technique for oil and gas extraction from ultra-low porosity and permeability shale reservoirs. During the hydraulic fracturing process, large amounts of water along with specific chemical additives are injected into the shale reservoirs, causing a series of reactions the influence the fluid composition and shale characteristics. This paper is focused on the investigation of the geochemical reactions between shale and fracturing fluid by conducting comparative experiments on di fferent samples at di fferent time scales. By tracking the temporal changes of fluid composition and shale characteristics, we identify the key geochemical reactions during the experiments. The preliminary results show that the dissolution of the relatively unstable minerals in shale, including feldspar, pyrite and carbonate minerals, occurred quickly. During the process of mineral dissolution, a large number of metal elements, such as U, Pb, Ba, Sr, etc., are released, which makes the fluid highly polluted. The fluid–rock reactions also generate many pores, which are mainly caused by dissolution of feldspar and calcite, and potentially can enhance the extraction of shale gas. However, precipitation of secondary minerals like Fe-(oxy) hydroxides and CaSO4 were also observed in our experiments, which on the one hand can restrict the migration of metal elements by adsorption or co-precipitation and on the other hand can occlude the pores, therefore influencing the recovery of hydrocarbon. The di fferent results between the experiments of di fferent samples revealed that mineralogical texture and composition strongly a ffect the fluid-rock reactions. Therefore, the identification of the shale mineralogical characteristics is essential to formulate fracturing fluid with the lowest chemical reactivity to avoid the contamination released by flowback waters.

**Keywords:** hydraulic fracturing; fracturing fluids; fluids-rock interaction; environmental implication
