Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications (3rd Edition)

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 927

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Interests: gel; conformance control; temporary plugging; enhanced oil recovery
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Guest Editor
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qindao 266580, China
Interests: profile control; water shutoff; chemical materials; enhanced oil recovery
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Physics and Engineering Department, College of Health, Engineering and Science, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA
Interests: gel conformance control; CO2 EOR; CO2 sequestration; chemical EOR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are grateful to all authors, reviewers, and readers for their responses to the 1–2 editions of our Special Issue on “Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications”. You can access these articles for free via the following links:

Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications (1st Edition)

Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications (2nd Edition)

This edition of the Special Issue focuses on the application of gels in oil and gas fields to improve hydrocarbon recovery. A broad range of topics will be discussed, including (but not limited to) field application cases, novel gel development, the experimental evaluation of gel performance for conformance control, fracturing, lab- and field-scale numerical simulations, etc. 

Gels, such as in situ gels and preformed particle gels, have been widely used in the oil and gas industry to control excess water production and gas channeling, which significantly contributes to improving hydrocarbon recovery. Based on different application conditions, many novel gels have been developed. An evaluation of novel gels is crucial since the properties of some polymers can be altered under high temperatures, high salinity levels, or high CO2 conditions. In addition, due to the complexity of the reservoirs, some gels may perform differently in the field than in the lab. In this case, the experiences gained from field application studies are very valuable for future gel development, evaluation, and application. As a cost-effective method, numerical simulation is widely used in the oil and gas industry to simulate gel treatment, analyze production data, and predict future production after gel treatment. Any studies related to gels used for oil and gas field applications can advance our understanding of gel performance in porous media and large channels, which is of significant importance to the oil and gas industry. 

We look forward to the submission of new studies on gel development or gel application in the oil and gas industry. Submissions of experimental or field studies are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Qing You
Prof. Dr. Guang Zhao
Dr. Xindi Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • the development of novel gels
  • the conformance control of gels
  • the fracturing of gels
  • the chemical EOR of gels
  • the field application of gels

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 5514 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Investigation of Nano-Silica Gel for Water Shut-Off in Fractured Reservoirs
by Ahmed Ali, Mustafa Al Ramadan and Murtada Saleh Aljawad
Gels 2024, 10(10), 651; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels10100651 - 11 Oct 2024
Viewed by 603
Abstract
Silicate gels have long been utilized as water shut-off agents in petroleum fields to address excessive water production. In recent years, nano-silica gel has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional silicate gels, offering potentially improved plugging performance. However, the long-term effectiveness of [...] Read more.
Silicate gels have long been utilized as water shut-off agents in petroleum fields to address excessive water production. In recent years, nano-silica gel has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional silicate gels, offering potentially improved plugging performance. However, the long-term effectiveness of these gels remains uncertain, posing challenges to sustained profitability. Therefore, a comprehensive study spanning 6 months was conducted on fractured and induced channel samples treated with nano-silica gel of 75/25 wt% (silica/activator) at 200 °F. A comparative analysis was performed with samples treated using polyacrylamide/polyethyleneimine PAM/PEI gel (9/1 wt%) to compare the performance of both systems. Throughout the aging period in formation water at 167 °F, endurance tests were conducted at regular intervals, complemented by computed tomography (CT) scans to monitor any potential degradation. The results revealed nano-silica gel’s superior long-term performance in plugging fractures and channels compared to PAM/PEI gel. Even after 6 months, the nano-silica gel maintained a remarkable 100% plugging efficiency at 1000 psi, with a maximum leak-off rate of 0.088 cc/min in the mid-fractured sample and 0.027 in the induced channel sample. In comparison, PAM/PEI gel exhibited a reduction in efficiency to 99.15% in the fractured sample (5.5 cc/min maximum leak-off rate) and 99.99% in the induced channel sample (0.036 cc/min maximum leak-off rate). These findings highlight the potential of nano-silica gel as a more durable water shut-off agent for managing water production in fractures and channels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gels for Oil and Gas Industry Applications (3rd Edition))
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