Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry faces a number of challenges, including environmental issues, regulatory pressures and evolving technologies. Environmental issues, such as carbon emissions and the impact of fossil fuels on climate change, are putting pressure on the industry to transition to cleaner forms of energy and use more sustainable ingredients. Cellulose nanocrystals have been investigated as potential additives for the oil and gas industry to help meet these challenges.

Drilling fluids: TONACELL® can be used as an additive in drilling fluids to improve their rheological properties. They can increase the viscosity and yield point of drilling fluids, reducing the risk of wellbore instability and improving drilling efficiency.

Fracturing fluids: TONACELL® can be used to improve proppant performance by increasing the conductivity of fracturing fluids and reducing the risk of proppant flowback. They can form a strong, stable network in the fracture, increasing the conductivity of the fracture and improving the efficiency of the hydraulic fracturing process.

Completion fluids: TONACELL® can be used as a rheological agent in fracturing fluids to improve sand and water management. They suspend proppant and reduce porosity when the efficiency of the completion fluid needs to be improved.

Enhanced recovery: TONACELL® can be used as an additive for enhanced recovery (EOR) to improve recovery. They can be used as flow control agents to reduce the permeability of high-permeability zones, forcing injected fluids to flow through low-permeability zones and improving the efficiency of the EOR process.

Corrosion Inhibitors: TONACELL® can be used as a natural corrosion inhibitor in oil and gas pipelines and equipment. They form a dense, uniform coating on metal surfaces, reducing the risk of corrosion and extending equipment life.