Thermo- and pH-responsive Supramolecular Gelling Agents for Enhanced Oil and Natural Gas Recovery from Tight Formations

Shale oil and natural gas, recovered mainly via hydraulic fracturing, has a significant role in meeting the U-S- energy demand in near future- Characteristics and properties of injected fluids used in hydraulic fracturing directly affect the amount of recovery- Since current injection fluid technologies result in low recovery factors, oil and gas industry is seeking new injection fluids to increase the recovery factor from low-permeability shale formations- Incendium Technologies LLC will develop novel pH- and temperature-responsive supramolecular assembly solutions to be used as gelling agents in injection fluids for enhanced oil and natural gas recovery from such formations- The developed supramolecular solutions were obtained by complexation of carboxylic acids with an amino-amide in aqueous media and possess adjustable viscosity and self-healing behaviors, and high salt and temperature tolerance- pH-responsive supramolecular solution at concentrations as low as 2% weight can adjust the viscosity nearly 1500 times by changing pH reversibly, while the thermo-responsive system alters the viscosity even more- Replacement of the current gelling agents with the supramolecular solutions will increase the hydrocarbon recovery factor- Preliminary lab-scale recovery efficiency experiments have verified that injection fluids including the supramolecular assembly solutions can increase the amount of recovery up to 20% compared to those include traditional gelling agents- In Phase I project period, the recovery efficiency experiments will be performed at larger environments to verify the supramolecular solutions` ability to enhance the hydrocarbon recovery at larger scales- Moreover, structure and phase behavior of the developed supramolecular assembly solutions will be tested under high pressures and confined environments- Furthermore, adjustable viscosity behavior of such solution will be evaluated under confinement and high pressures-