UPCONVERTING NANOPARTICLES AS TRACERS FOR PRODUCTION AND WELL MONITORING

• US 20200131894A1
• Filed: 11/07/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes, a GE Company, LLC (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: Baker Hughes, a GE Company, LLC (Baker Hughes Company)
• Inventors: Murugesan, Sankaran, Khabashesku, Valery, Darugar, Qusai
• Granted Patent: US 11,162,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 11/025 non-luminescent particle coatings or suspension media
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 11/7773 with alkali or alkaline earth metal
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 2208/10 Nanoparticle-containing well treatment fluids
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 8/665 containing inorganic compounds proppants C09K8/80
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 8/68 containing organic compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C09K 8/70 characterised by their form or by the form of their components, e.g. foams
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/14 Obtaining from a multiple-zone well
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/20 Displacing by water
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/2406 Steam assisted gravity drainage [SAGD]
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/26 by forming crevices or fractures
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/11 using tracers; using radioactivity
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/111 using radioactivity

Abstract

A method of fracturing multiple productive zones of a subterranean formation penetrated by a wellbore is disclosed. The method comprises injecting a fracturing fluid into each of the multiple production zones at a pressure sufficient to enlarge or create fractures in the multiple productive zones, wherein the fracturing fluid comprises an upconverting nanoparticle that has a host material, a dopant, and a surface modification such that the upconverting nanoparticle is soluble or dispersible in water, a hydrocarbon oil, or a combination thereof; recovering a fluid from one or more of the multiple production zones; detecting the upconverting nanoparticle in the recovered fluid by exposing the recovered fluid to an excitation radiation having a monochromatic wavelength; and identifying the zone that produces the recovered fluid or monitoring an amount of water or oil in the produced fluid by measuring an optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle in the recovered fluid.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring well production, the method comprising:

introducing an upconverting nanoparticle into a wellbore, the upconverting nanoparticle having a host material, a dopant, and a surface modification such that the upconverting nanoparticle is soluble or dispersible in water, a hydrocarbon oil, or a combination thereof;

producing an emulsion from the wellbore,

contacting the upconverting nanoparticle with the produced emulsion;

exposing the upconverting nanoparticle to an excitation radiation from an electromagnetic radiation source; and

identifying a zone that produces the emulsion or monitoring an amount of water or oil in the produced emulsion by measuring an optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle is measured within the wellbore.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying the amount of water or oil in the produced emulsion by measuring an optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle in the produced emulsion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle is introduced into the wellbore in a fracturing fluid.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle is introduced into the wellbore via a cable comprising the upconverting nanoparticle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the upconverting nanoparticles is present as a coating on a portion of the cable.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the upconverting nanoparticles is dispersed in at least a portion of the cable.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein

the host material of the upconverting nanoparticle comprises NaYF₄, NaGdF₄, YF₃, CaF₂, Gd₂O₃, LaF₃, Y₂O₃, ZrO₂, Y₂O₂S, La₂O₂S, Y₂BaZnO₅, or Gd₂BaZnO₅, and the dopant of the upconverting nanoparticle comprises Er³⁺, Yb³⁺, Tm³⁺, Ho³⁺ or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the dopant comprises about 5 mol % to about 30 mol % of Yb³⁺ and about 1 mol % to about 3 mol % of one or more of the following:

Tm³⁺, Ho³⁺, or Er³⁺, each based on the total mole of the upconverting nanoparticle.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle is surface modified with citric acid.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle has a coating of a polyethylene glycol, a polyacrylic acid, a derivative thereof, or a combination comprising as least one of the foregoing.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle is immobilized in a matrix or coated on a solid support, and is configured to be controllably released to the produced emulsion.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising releasing the upconverting nanoparticle from the composite to the produced emulsion.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring an optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle in the produced emulsion comprises measuring adsorption spectrum, an emission spectrum, an absorption intensity, a peak absorption wavelength, a peak emission wavelength, an emission intensity of the upconverting nanoparticle, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising injecting into each of a plurality of production zones a fluid comprising a qualitatively distinguishable upconverting nanoparticle, wherein the upconverting nanoparticle injected into each of the plurality of production zones emits a different color of light when exposed to an excitation radiation having a monochromatic wavelength;

and producing the emulsion from one or more the plurality of the production zones, the produced emulsion containing the upconverting nanoparticle.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising detecting the zone that produced the emulsion by measuring an optical property of the upconverting nanoparticle in the produced emulsion.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the monochromatic wavelength is about 980 nanometers.