EAGER: Effects of Thermodynamic Phase Changes at Reservoir Conditions on the Interfacial Properties of Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing

水力压裂和水平钻井的结合极大地影响了美国的能源生产，并将对世界其他地区产生类似的影响。以前不经济的页岩气储层的天然气产量增加已经导致天然气价格暴跌，几个州的经济繁荣，以及对新制造设施的大量投资。潜力如此之大，以至于已经有人在讨论美国实现能源独立，甚至成为能源净出口国的可能性。然而，水力压裂作业的增长引发了对环境影响的担忧。最令人担忧的一个潜在影响可能是压裂液中使用的化学物质对地下水的污染。在过去的四十年中，广泛的命运和运输研究为理解和预测典型压裂流体化学物质在到达地下含水层时的迁移提供了深入的资源，但典型页岩气储层的条件与含水层的条件有很大的不同。这个EAGER项目源于这样一个假设，即水力压裂中作为载体流体的水溶液的热力学相变将导致页岩气矿物和作为支撑剂的砂对压裂液化学物质的吸附大大增加。这种增加的吸附意味着化学物质找到任何途径迁移到地下蓄水层的可能性大大降低。由于水力压裂返排作业中存在高浓度的溶解盐（总溶解固体，TDS），因此了解这些潜在的相变化变得更加困难。水。研究人员建议进行实验，研究压裂液在注入页岩气储层时，由于高温和电解质浓度的影响而产生的相变。他们还将测量气藏温度、压力和TDS条件下岩石/盐水界面和支撑剂/盐水界面的压裂化学物质的界面特性。实验将包括批处理和流动反应器以及测量。该建议的智力价值在于有助于更好地理解储层条件对储层中压裂液化学物质热力学活性的影响。该研究结果将为了解水力压裂作业对地下水造成化学污染的真正潜力提供另一个关键因素。该提案的更广泛影响来自于对研究生和本科生的教育效益，他们将在进行提案中描述的实验时得到支持。该研究结果也将为有关水力压裂法的辩论做出重大贡献。潜在的地下水污染。研究人员还希望这一结果能引发一场关于设计更好的压裂化学品的讨论，以改善页岩气储层中压裂液在极端条件下的性能。

1252249HarwellThe combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has dramatically affected energy production in the United States and is poised to have a similar impact across the rest of the world. Increased natural gas production from previously uneconomical shale gas reservoir has already led to plummeting natural gas prices, economic booms in several states, and dramatic investments in new manufacturing facilities. The potential is so large that there is already discussion of the possibility of the US becoming energy independent and even becoming a net energy exporter. The growth in hydraulic fracturing operations has, however, led to fears of environmental impacts. One potential impact which causes perhaps the most concern is ground water contamination by the chemicals used in the fracking fluid. Extensive fate and transport studies over the past four decades provide a deep resource for understanding and predicting the migration of typical fracking fluid chemicals should they reach ground water aquifers, but conditions in a typical shale gas reservoir differ dramatically from those in an aquifer. This EAGER project stems from the hypothesis that thermodynamic phase changes in the aqueous solutions which are the carrier fluids in hydraulic fracturing will lead to greatly increased adsorption of fracturing fluid chemicals by both the shale gas minerals and the sand used as a proppant. This increased adsorption implies a greatly reduced potential for the chemicals to find any kind of path by which they might migrate to a ground water aquifer. Understanding these potential phase changes is made more difficult by the high concentrations of dissolved salts (total dissolved solids, TDS) found in hydraulic fracturing operation ?flowback? water. The investigators propose experiments to study the phase changes induced in fracturing fluids by the high temperatures and electrolyte concentrations that develop when the fluids are injected into a shale gas reservoir. They will also measure the interfacial properties of fracking chemicals at the rock/brine and proppant/brine interfaces at gas reservoir conditions of temperature, pressure and TDS. Experiments will include both batch and flow-through reactors and measurements. The intellectual merit of the proposal arises from the contribution to better understanding the effect of reservoir conditions on the thermodynamic activity of fracturing fluid chemicals in a reservoir. The results will provide another key element in understanding the true potential of hydraulic fracturing operations to produce long term environmental damage in the form of chemical contamination of ground water. The broader impact of the proposal arises from the educational benefits to the graduate and undergraduate students who will be supported while conducting the experiments described in the proposal. The results will also make a significant contribution to the debate about fracking?s potential for ground water contamination. The investigators also expect the results to lead to a discussion of design of better fracking chemicals to improve the performance of the fracking fluids under the extreme conditions found in gas shale reservoirs.