Removal of Divalent Cations from Produced Water and Its Impact on Rheological Properties and Proppant Settling Velocity

The petroleum industry seeks to optimize the reuse of flowback and produced water (FPW) in hydraulic fracturing to reduce environmental impacts and costs. This study investigates how controlling divalent cations in FPW influences its rheological properties and proppant carrying capacity, both of which are crucial for efficient fracturing. Synthetic FPW, modified to simulate treated and untreated conditions, was analyzed to determine the impact of gel-based additives such as anionic polyacrylamide-based friction reducers (FRs). Results indicate that removing divalent cations increases relaxation times from 0.12 s in untreated FPW to 1.00 s in a 1 gallon per thousand gallons (gpt) FR solution, demonstrating improved viscoelastic gel characteristics. However, these changes do not significantly increase proppant carrying capacity. Even with relaxation times increasing to 4.5 s at higher FR dosages (3 gpt), the treated FPW still does not achieve the relaxation time observed in FR solutions using deionized (DI) water, which remain above 10 s. The removal of divalent cations from FPW resulted in only minor changes to its shear viscosity, with a modest 15% increase that was not enough to significantly affect the settling velocity of the proppant. Thus, removal of divalent cations can positively influence rheological behavior; it does not necessarily improve proppant transport efficiency in hydraulic fracturing operations.