Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration

Hawkins, Adam J.; Bender, Jay T.; Grooms, Robert D.; Schissel, Colette J.; Tester, Jefferson W.

doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046

Title: Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration

Journal Article · Sat Jan 30 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Geothermics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046· OSTI ID:1843959

^[1];

^[2]; Grooms, Robert D. ^[2];

^[2]; Tester, Jefferson W. ^[2]

Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

Temperature-responsive smart tracers enable advanced warning of a “premature thermal breakthrough” and may therefore improve reservoir management and reduce financial risk. A successful calculation of inter-well fluid temperatures requires that temperature-dependent kinetics are known, which typically result from homogeneous batch reactor experiments. However, recent meso-scale field experiments at the Altona Field Laboratory involving fluid flow in a discretely-fractured reservoir suggest that silica-fluid interfaces may accelerate hydrolysis kinetics. Here, the Arrhenius parameters of phenyl acetate hydrolysis are investigated under heterogeneous reaction conditions in packed-bed column experiments. The breakthrough curve of the reaction product is compared to an inert reference tracer (carbon-cored nanoparticles). Temperatures experienced during field testing ranging from 10 to 40 °C were studied using a phosphate buffer solution to maintain a near-neutral pH, as found in the reservoir. The empirically-determined pre-exponential factor and activation energy values are subsequently used in a first-order kinetic model to improve calculations of effective reservoir temperatures for these meso-scale field tests. Here, the results suggest that hydrolysis reactions can directly monitor inter-well reservoir temperatures, but only if the influence of solid-fluid interactions are carefully accounted for.

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Research Organization:: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006764

OSTI ID:: 1843959

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1779936

Journal Information:: Geothermics, Vol. 92; ISSN 0375-6505

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration

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