Terves commercializing second-generation disintegrating frac balls
Date: April 10, 2015Posted by adminNo CommentsCategory: In the News
Terves reports rapid commercialization of second-generation disintegrating frac balls
EUCLID, Ohio — Terves Inc. announced that more than 500 of its second-generation TervAlloy engineered disintegrating frac balls have been successfully deployed in horizontal frac completions in North America since their introduction in late 2014.
These new, lower-cost and higher strength metallic tools are easier to store and handle and less prone to early degradation than prior generation dissolvable metals, which have been used on more than 75,000 frac stages over the last three years.
The announcement coincides with a scheduled presentation by Andrew Sherman, Terves Inc.’s founder and Chief Technology Officer, at the inaugural ShaleTECH Canada conference in Calgary on April 22, 2015. The conference, sponsored by Gulf Publishing’s World Oil magazine and DMG Events, will be a high-level forum for shale gas professionals to hear experts discuss the industry outlook and the latest technology advancements for shale gas development.
Advantages of High Strength Dissolvable Metals
In his presentation, “Emerging High Strength Dissolvable Materials,” Mr. Sherman will review the technical principles of nanocomposite metals, which are lighter and stronger than aluminum, and which are engineered to disintegrate in a highly controllable manner when exposed to completion fluids at downhole temperatures. To date, the main oilfield application for high strength dissolvable materials has been for dissolvable frac balls used with sliding sleeve completions. More recently, dissolving balls have been deployed with bridge plugs for plug and perf completions. Full bore dissolvable tools are just emerging, enabled by the higher strength and lower cost of the next-generation materials. Terves has proprietary and patented nanocomposite technology and is a leading supplier of disintegrating magnesium frac balls and completion tool components.
Unlike balls made of less rigid dissolvable polymers and prior generation dissolvable metals, these engineered magnesium alloy frac balls maintain their shape and do not start degrading in the ball drop system, while effectively actuating sleeves or sealing frac pugs at pumping pressures that can exceed 10,000 psi. Once deployed, the engineered alloy tools respond to a combination of completion fluids and bottomhole temperatures of 85⁰ to 200⁰F to degrade into soluble micron-sized particles that easily circulate out of the well. Within 1-5 days after the frac completion, tools are completely disintegrated, leaving an unobstructed wellbore, without requiring coiled tubing drill out operations.
“Disintegrating frac balls create significant savings for operators by preventing ball hang-up problems and reducing drill out and circulating costs,” Mr. Sherman said.
Five formulations of TervAlloy “Engineered Response” Magnesium Alloys are available with useable tensile strengths up to 45,000 psi and with a range of dissolution rates engineered for different completion fluids and well temperatures. Two coating materials also are available to enable acid treatments with the disintegrating balls/stages in place, or to delay disintegration completely until a triggering solution is introduced into the well.
“With TervAlloy’s advantages field-proven in frac ball applications, Terves continues to work with oilfield service companies and tooling OEM’s to deploy dissolvable metals for construction of other completions components, including sliding sleeve ball seats, fully dissolvable frac plugs, disintegrating bridge plugs, slips and grips, pre-perforated liners, and short tubular sections,” Mr. Sherman added. “The company’s research and development efforts also include work on new materials and applications, including sand screens and fracture conductivity enhancement, freshwater dissolvables, dissolvables designed specifically for use with heavy brines in offshore wells, and even higher strength alloys to enable smaller seats and reduced component mass to further reduce costs,” he said.
下面的应该是第一代产品的性能介绍~新闻发布时间为2013年，上面那个发布时间是15年4月10日~
Terves is developing TervAlloy™ magnesium and aluminum nanocomposite disintegrating frac balls that are designed to disintegrate (turn to powder) based on exposure to a controlled fluid (e.g., electrolyte), or an electrical or thermal stimuli. TervAlloy™ nanocomposite frac balls will have high strength, along with the ability to remain stable long enough to allow for the full fracturing process, and the TervAlloy™ will then disintegrate into sand-sized particles after a specified time in response to a controlled environmental stimulus, and not require further clean-up or risk plugging well systems.
Value Proposition:- Disintegrate into fine powders with change in environment or predefined engineered stimuli
- Allows multi-stage fracking
- Ensures no blockage, debris, and lost production
- As strong as steel and looks like aluminum
Applications:- Formations that require multistage hydraulic fracturing
- Wells that have pressure differentials between stages
- Wells that have low production velocity
The TervAlloy™ disintegrating nanocomposite frac balls are designed to be used with current frac sleeves in the fracturing system and composite frac plugs; and can be modified for use with future adaptations of well isolation, perforation, and completion systems.
The TervAlloy™ nanocomposite frac balls will enable elimination of the risk of lost production due to frac balls. Lost production occurs as a result of the pressure in the stage below the ball being lower than the pressure in the stage above the ball. The differential pressure of the stages on either side of the frac ball ensures that the ball to remain sealed on the ball seat, and blocks the production from all stages below that point. The ball activated frac sleeve system pile up in low spots of the well if the production velocity is not high enough poses a risk. The piling up of frac balls starts producing sands or other debris to create a barrier, leading to additional expenses to fix the problem. The TervAlloy™ nanocomposite frac balls are designed to prevent either of these scenarios from occurring, because they are being designed to disintegrate before causing an obstruction.
The TervAlloy™ nanocomposite frac balls are also being designed towards adding tremendous value in plug and perf applications, which would enable producing wells without removing the ball-activated composite plugs. The TervAlloy™ nanocomposite frac balls trapped in the wellbore will disintegrate, removing the obstruction that was hampering production.
