Wewodon supplies modified polymer friction reducers and matching crosslinkers for locally blended fracturing fluids. Adjusting additive loading and crosslinking conditions allows the system to cover slickwater, higher viscosity proppant transport fluids and crosslinked gels. Product grade and formulation are selected for the blending water, reservoir temperature and pumping conditions.

Applications and supply scope

• Hydraulic fracturing in shale, tight sandstone and coalbed methane reservoirs, including continuous mixing across different viscosity stages.

• Blending with saline water or reused flowback, following viscosity, friction-reduction and compatibility testing with the actual water.

• Crosslinkable friction reducers and matching organometallic crosslinkers, with grade, additive loading and crosslinking delay selected for the application.

Figure 1. Illustration of multistage fracturing in a horizontal well.

The reference viscosity range is approximately 5–100 cP as friction reducer loading is varied, covering the viscosity requirements of slickwater, proppant transport fluid and crosslinked gel. Confirm the corresponding concentration, shear rate, temperature and blending water during evaluation. The table above provides concentration specific viscosity values for initial comparison.

• Electrostatic repulsion along the polymer chains aids dispersion. Intermolecular associations are limited at lower concentration and develop into a network as concentration increases.

• The matching crosslinker forms a delayed crosslinked network to balance friction pressure during wellbore transit and downhole proppant transport under qualified temperature and timing conditions.

• Continuous mixing and viscosity changes can simplify switching between fluid stages. Higher transport-fluid viscosity can help reduce settling and screenout risk, depending on formulation, rate, proppant concentration and fracture conditions.

Variable Viscosity Fracturing Fluid System

Mixing and crosslink control

The rapid dissolving crosslinkable grade is reported to dissolve in less than 30 s and develop 80% of its stabilized viscosity within 3 min. These describe dissolution and viscosity development separately. Verify both against water temperature, mixing shear and dosing equipment. The matching crosslinker controls metal ion release with temperature; crosslinking delay is adjusted to wellbore residence time and the temperature profile.

Values from the reference comparison. Both powder entries are labelled with molecular weight 8 million in the source, without further sample identification. Confirm water, temperature, mixing procedure and sample identity for a comparative evaluation.

The reference comparison shows dissolution in seconds for the rapid-dissolving crosslinkable grade, reducing premixing time relative to the listed conventional powder samples. This supports continuous mixing and on-the-fly pumping. Changes in site footprint and preparation time depend on equipment and operations.

Reference application example for temperature-controlled crosslinking

A shale gas application example uses a wellbore volume of approximately 283–314 bbl (45–50 m³) and a pump rate of 100.6 bbl/min (16 m³/min), giving a nominal wellhead to bottomhole transit time of about 3 min. A crosslinking delay of 2–3 min was used to limit friction pressure during wellbore transit and form a proppant carrying gel downhole. These are reference application values. Adjust the actual delay for effective flow path volume, pump rate, temperature profile and field mixing conditions.