Gels in the Oil Field

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Chemistry and Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 614

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: EOR; polymer gel; oilfield chemistry; CCUS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As functional materials, gels play an important role in promoting the efficient exploitation of oil fields, in processes such as gel plugging during drilling to prevent the loss of drilling fluid, the improvement of the effects of acidizing and fracturing, conformance control and water plugging, enhanced oil recovery using gels during oil production, and the improvement of the treatment effect using gels during oil and water treatment and separation. There are also important research efforts and applications in the CCUS field. With the developments achieved in recent years, gel technologies have become increasingly mature, making gels important products in oil field chemistry. These technologies include the research and development of new gels and the evaluation of gel properties and applications in the traditional oil and gas field, the new energy field, and the CCUS field. Therefore, this Special Issue is dedicated to reporting gel research and applications in the oil and related fields, providing practitioners with a more comprehensive research report and promoting the development of gel technology.

Dr. Lei Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • gel
  • oil field
  • exploration and development
  • CCUS
  • functional materials

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 4466 KiB  
Article
Degradable Gel for Temporary Plugging in High Temperature Reservoir and Its Properties
by Fan Yang, Jinhua Liu, Renjing Ji, Xiaorong Yu, Huan Yang and Gaoshen Su
Gels 2024, 10(7), 445; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10070445 - 5 Jul 2024
Viewed by 411
Abstract
Although various degradable gel materials have been developed for temporary plugging in oil fields, they often degrade too quickly in high-temperature environments. To address this issue, an unstable crosslinker was synthesized to prepare a high-temperature degradable gel. This gel does not degrade excessively [...] Read more.
Although various degradable gel materials have been developed for temporary plugging in oil fields, they often degrade too quickly in high-temperature environments. To address this issue, an unstable crosslinker was synthesized to prepare a high-temperature degradable gel. This gel does not degrade excessively fast at high temperatures. Temperature and crosslinker concentration are the primary factors influencing gel degradation time, followed by monomer and initiator concentrations. Increased temperature and decreased crosslinker concentration both reduce degradation time, which can be adjusted within the range of 90–130 °C by varying the crosslinker concentration. The molecular structure and thermal stability of the degradable gel were analyzed using FTIR, 13C NMR, and TG. Furthermore, the viscoelastic properties, compressive performance, plugging performance, and core damage performance of the gel were evaluated. Within the test range of 0.1–1000 Pa, the storage modulus is higher than the loss modulus. The gel prepared at 130 °C exhibited a compressive stress of 0.25 MPa at 50% strain. The plugging pressure of the gel in sand-filled tubes with varying permeabilities (538.2–2794.1 mD) exceeded 15 MPa while maintaining a core damage rate below 5%. SEM analysis indicated that the degradation mechanism of the gel may involve the collapse of its three-dimensional network structure due to the hydrolysis of amide groups in the crosslinker. The viscosity of the degradation liquid was below 11 mPa·s, enabling it to be brought back to the surface with the formation fluid without the need for further breaking operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels in the Oil Field)
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