Proppant Transport with a Reversible and pH Adjustable Supramolecular Material Used As Viscous Fracturing Fluid

Recently, hydraulic fracturing has become an essential and significant technology utilized for the extraction of natural gas resources from the unconventional reservoir in the past decade. However, due to the limitation of recent existing materials, in particular about the proppant (e.g., sand, or ceramic materials) carrying capacity and the environmental concern, it is increasingly needed to find alternative materials to deal with these issues. Here, we will describe on a novel supramolecular complex as viscosity modifying agent for fracturing fluid, produced by self-assembly ammonio-acetate and triamine system, with relatively low concentration(0.4%-2%) in water. This promising viscosity modifying agent shows strong reversibility and well ability of pH-responsive property. The viscosity of the solution could be increased by two orders of magnitude as pH increases. This adjustable viscous solution could maintain good dispersion and reducing the proppant settling velocity. Also, the discussion of physical and chemical characteristics, such as the FTIR, rheology performance, stability of the fluid and sedimentation of proppant in this system, will be included.