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

Abstract

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.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]
  1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1843959
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1779936
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0006764
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Geothermics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 92; Journal ID: ISSN 0375-6505
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; Temperature-responsive smart tracer; Carbon-cored nanoparticles; Field study; Premature thermal breakthrough; Phenyl acetate; Heterogeneous kinetics

Citation Formats

Hawkins, Adam J., Bender, Jay T., Grooms, Robert D., Schissel, Colette J., and Tester, Jefferson W. Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046.
Hawkins, Adam J., Bender, Jay T., Grooms, Robert D., Schissel, Colette J., & Tester, Jefferson W. Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046
Hawkins, Adam J., Bender, Jay T., Grooms, Robert D., Schissel, Colette J., and Tester, Jefferson W. Sat . "Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1843959.
@article{osti_1843959,
title = {Temperature-responsive smart tracers for field-measurement of inter-well thermal evolution: Heterogeneous kinetics and field demonstration},
author = {Hawkins, Adam J. and Bender, Jay T. and Grooms, Robert D. and Schissel, Colette J. and Tester, Jefferson W.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1016/j.geothermics.2021.102046},
journal = {Geothermics},
number = ,
volume = 92,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jan 30 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Sat Jan 30 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}

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