Study of a Novel Gemini Viscoelastic Surfactant with High Performance in Clean Fracturing Fluid Application

Gemini surfactant, as a functionally flexible polymer-like material in the aqueous solution, has attracted increased attention in reservoir stimulation of hydraulic fracturing in recent decades. A new Gemini cationic viscoelastic surfactant named JS-N-JS, which has a secondary amine spacer group and two ultra-long hydrophobic tails, was synthesized from erucamidopropyl dimethylamine, diethanolamine, and thionyl chloride as a thickener for hydraulic fracturing fluid. Compared with some Gemini cationic surfactant with methylene spacer, JS-N-JS showed a lower critical micellar concentration (CMC) and higher surface activity due to the hydrogen bond formed between the secondary amine and water molecule intends to reduce electrostatic repulsion, which is more beneficial to be the fracturing fluid thickener. Moreover, the performance of JS-N-JS solution can be further improved by salts of potassium chloride (KCl) or sodium salicylate (NaSal), while organic salt behaved better according to the measurements. The SEM observation confirmed that JS-N-JS/NaSal system owned a tighter network microstructure, and JS-N-JS/NaSal system exhibited a distinct superior viscoelasticity system at a sweep frequency of 0.1–10 Hz. As a fracturing fluid, the solution with a formula of 30 mmol JS-N-JS and 100 mmol NaSal was evaluated according to the petroleum industrial standard and presented excellent viscoelastic properties, the viscosity of which can maintain above 70 mPa·s for 110 min under a shear rate of 170 s−1 at 120 °C. Meanwhile, the drag reducing rate of the formula could reach above 70% with the increase of shear rate. Finally, the viscous fracturing fluid can be broken into the water-like fluid in 1.2 h after being fully exposed to hydrocarbons and the water-like fluid presented a low damage to the tight sand reservoirs according to the core flooding experiments, in which the permeability recovery rate can reach 85.05%. These results fully demonstrate that the JS-N-JS solution fully meets the requirement of the industrial application of hydraulic fracturing.