• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.645-667
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• 2015

Single treatment and staged treatments in vertical wells are widely applied in sandstone and mudstone thin interbedded (SMTI) reservoir to stimulate the reservoir. The keys and difficulties of stimulating this category of formations are to avoid hydraulic fracture propagating through the interface between shale and sand as well as control the fracture height. In this paper, the cohesive zone method was utilized to build the 3-dimensional fracture dynamic propagation model in shale and sand interbedded formation based on the cohesive damage element. Staged treatments and single treatment were simulated by single fracture propagation model and double fractures propagation model respectively. Study on the changes of fracture vicinity stress field during propagation is to compare and analyze the parameters which influence the interfacial induced stresses between two different fracturing methods. As a result, we can prejudge how difficult it is that the fracture propagates along its height direction. The induced stress increases as the pumping rate increasing and it changes as a parabolic function of the fluid viscosity. The optimized pump rate is $4.8m^3/min$ and fluid viscosity is $0.1Pa{\cdot}s$ to avoid the over extending of hydraulic fracture in height direction. The simulation outcomes were applied in the field to optimize the treatment parameters and the staged treatments was suggested to get a better production than single treatment.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2013

Heavy oil residue upgrading process was being used in conventional refinery process. Recently, as the importance of non conventional energy development is growing up, the commercial projects of heavy oil upgrading are getting more active than before. For having competitive business model in the resource competition, non conventional energy development should be considered as an important business strategy. In developing oil sands, extra heavy oil, and shale gas, canadian oil sands and extra heavy oil have great importance in substitution of conventional oil consumption. In oil sands development, the bitumen, which is extracted from oil sands, has great value after upgrading or refining process. Similar process is being used current conventional refinery process. The bitumen is highly viscous hydrocarbon. This bitumen includes impurities which can not be treated in conventional refinery process. As this reason, specified process is needed in bitumen or extra heavy oil upgrading process. Moreover, there will be additional specified facilities in the process of production, transportation and marketing. In oil sands, there are various kinds of commercial upgrading process. Extraction, dilution, coking and cracking method were being used commercially.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.21-28
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• 2018

In recent years, payability of shale gas production has worsened due to oil and gas price declines resulting from sharply increasing shale gas production. Reliable economic evaluation in shale gas development has become important. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation of probabilistic analysis technique was applied to analyze the economic feasibility considering the uncertainty involved in shale gas development. For this, the range of major variables is set and a random number is generated to derive the probability distribution of Net Present Value(NPV) and Internal Rate of Return(IRR). Consequently, we estimated the probability that the feasibility of the project is evaluated to be positive when developing shale gas in the study area. In addition, sensitivity analysis of major parameters affecting economic efficiency in shale gas development was carried out, and the effect of major variables in economic evaluation for commercial production was identified. In the future, this study could be used to make decision for shale gas production by presenting the range of variation of economic index and probability value.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.409-417
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• 2016

The shale gas is emerging as one of the oil and gas resources which can replace the traditional oil and gas resources. As the shale layer where the shale gas is deposited has low permeability, the hydrofracturing method is required to improve the productivity. This study is designed to conduct the laboratory hydrofracturing test on the samples which are modeled after the drilling hole having the general drilling hole and spiral groove. And compare the initial fracturing pressure and fluid contact between them in order to the result of the hydrofracturing depending on the shape of the drilling hole. In addition, the results were compared with the numerical modeling values from 3DEC and they were also compared with the data from the advance researches. It was found from the study that rather than the contact area of the high pressures water, the force concentration depending on the form of guide hole was more effective in the hydrofracturing.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.154-165
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• 2014

Development of unconventional natural resources such as shale gas, shale oil and coal bed methane, has been activated and improved the productivity due to the recent technology advance in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, the flowback water mixed with chemical additives, and the brine water containing oil, gas, high levels of salts and radioactive metals is produced during the gas production. Potential negative environmental impact due to large volumes of the produced wastewater is increasingly seen as the major obstacles to the unconventional natural resource development. In this study an integrated framework for the flowback and brine water treatment is proposed, and we reviewed the upcoming state of the art technology in water treatment. Basic separation processes which include not only membrane, evaporation, crystallization and desalination processes, but the potential water reuse and recycling techniques can be applied for the unconventional natural resource industry.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.157-171
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• 2019

The fracturing by liquid carbon dioxide ($LCO_2$) as a fracking fluid has been an alternative to mitigate the environmental issues often caused by the conventional hydraulic fracking since it facilitates the fluid permeation owing to its low viscosity. This study presents how $LCO_2$ injection influences the breakdown pressure, acoustic emission, and fracture morphology. Three fracturing fluids such as $LCO_2$, water, and oil are injected with different pressurization rate to the synthetic and porous mortar specimens. Also, the shale which has been a major target formation in conventional fracking practices is also tested to examine the failure characteristics. The results show that $LCO_2$ injection induces more tortuous and undulated fractures, and particularly the larger fractures are developed in cases of shale specimen. On the other hand, the relationship between the fracturing fluids and the breakdown pressure shows opposite tendency in the tests of mortar and shale specimens.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.418-429
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• 2014

Induced seismicity related to four energy development technologies that involve fluid injection or withdrawal: geothermal energy, conventional oil and gas development including enhanced oil recovery (EOR), shale gas recovery, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) is reviewed by literature investigation. The largest induced seismic events reported in the technical literature are associated with projects that did not balance the large volume of fluids injected into, or extracted from the underground reservoir. A statistical observation shows that the net volume of fluid injected and/or extracted may serve as a proxy for changes in subsurface stress conditions and pore pressure, and other factors. Energy technology projects that are designed to maintain a balance between the amount of fluid being injected and the amount of fluid being withdrawn, such as geothermal and most oil and gas development, may produce fewer induced seismic events than technologies that do not maintain fluid balance, such as long-term wastewater disposal wells and CCS projects.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 2015

As non-conventional oil resources such as shale gas have been widely developed, proper treatment of flowback and produced water is becoming important. However, application of conventional water treatment techniques is limited due to high concentration of pollutants such as oil and grease, organics, harmful chemicals, and inorganic ions. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using forward osmosis (FO) and air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) as novel treatment options for shale gas wastewater. Laboratory-scale FO and MD devices were fabricated and used for the experiments. Results showed that FO could be used to treat the synthetic wastewater. Using 5 M NaCl as the draw solution, the flux was approximately $6L/m^2-hr$ during the treatment of low range wastewater (TDS: 66,000 mg/L). Nevertheless, AGMD was more effective to treat high range wastewater (Total Dissolved Solid: 260,000 mg/L) than FO.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.209-218
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• 2021

Studies of pore structure in shale gas reservoirs are essential to increase recovery rates, which is in the spotlight concerning unconventional resources. In this study, the distribution of pores in shale gas reservoir sample were observed using Scanning Electron Microscope Particle Analysis (SELPA), which is appropriate to analyze the distribution of particle or shape for sample in large area. A sample from the A-068 borehole drilled in the Liard Basin was analyzed; calcite is the main mineral. The pore size ranges from tens of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers and the contribution of each pore size to overall sample porosity was determined using SELPA. The distribution of pores was determined by observing the surface in the same area at magnifications of ×1000, ×3000 and ×5000. Pores less than 100 nm were observed at high magnifications and confirm that small-scale pore distribution can be analyzed and identified rapidly using SELPA. The method introduced in this study will be useful to understand pore structures in unconventional reservoirs.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2017

Recently, international attention has been focused on the development of non-traditional energy resources such as shale gas and oil sands, due to the steep increase in the demand for natural resources. The materials incorporated in an oil gas plant module experience extreme environments, and are prone to various problem such as fracture, corrosion and abrasion due to low-temperature brittleness. In order to improve the plant life, it is necessary to perform characteristics study and performance evaluation of the materials. In particular, this paper explains the main set of materials which are most frequently used in oil sands plant project. In order to investigate wear characteristics, the authors carried out abrasive wear tests of TP 316, stainless steel and SS 400, structural rolled steel. For the analysis of the abrasive wear resistance of an oil sands plant, the authors carried out the test according to ASTM G 105 "Standard Test Method for Conducting Wet Sand/Rubber Wheel Abrasion Test" standard guidelines. The authors have derived the results from the data associated with the loss of mass with respect to wear rate. During the test, for a given wear length for 10,000 revolutions, the rotational speed and applied force of the rubber wheel were varied.