Optimizing Recovery of Fracturing Fluid in Unconventional and Tight Gas Reservoirs Through Innovative Environmentally Friendly Flowback Additives

Hydraulic fracturing, a method used to stimulate oil and gas from shale and tight formations, faces challenges like fluid blockage and fast declining oil or gas production rates due to the significant impact of capillary forces on water retention. To address this, surfactants and microemulsions are commonly employed as flowback additives to reduce surface and interfacial tension, enhancing water recovery during hydraulic fracturing. The effectiveness of flowback additives is highly impacted by harsh subsurface conditions, such as high salinity and high temperature. This study aims to assess the performance and effectiveness of methylimidazolium chloride-based ionic liquids as flowback additives at high salinities and temperatures. Different experimental analysis were conducted to screen different concentrations of methylimidazolium chloride-based ionic liquids (X1, X2, and X3). Surface tension measurements were conducted to estimate the critical micelles concentrations. A spinning drop tensiometer (SDT) was utilized to measure interfacial tension, in addition, contact angle measurements were used to evaluate the impact of the flowback additive on the wettability and the displacing behavior. Seawater was used as the base fracturing fluid with a salinity of 57,000 ppm and temperatures up to 90°c for all experiments. Coreflood experiments were conducted using tight formations to evaluate the regained hydrocarbon permeability and the fracturing fluid recovery in the presence of flowback additives. Various formulations, with surface tension values ranging from 30 to 45 mN/m and CMC values between 0.5 and 1 gallon per thousand units (gpt), were examined. The lowest interfacial tension value, notably 3 mN/m, was achieved with the X3 formulation. Ionic liquids demonstrated favorable surface tension reduction, where longer carbon chains led to lower values. Introducing diverse ions, especially divalent ions, enhanced the performance of ionic liquids. Interfacial tension measurements indicated a significant reduction with the addition of X3 to both 5 wt% KCl and the fracturing base fluid. Contact angle measurements revealed a shift towards greater water-wettability after treating the rock with flowback additives. Moreover, the use of ionic liquids improved permeability by 25%, enhancing fluid recovery to around 56%. According to our results, methylimidazolium chloride-based ionic liquids can be used as environmentally friendly flowback additives, especially in harsh conditions of high temperature and high salinity where the conventional additives are not suitable. This will contribute to the development of more sustainable and environmentally conscious practices in hydraulic fracturing operations. Ultimately, the utilization of these additives can help mitigate water blockage, reduce formation damage, and enhance shale gas production.