Introduction

In the normal decomposition process, in the presence of oxygen and

microscopic organisms, vegetable matter is rapidly oxidized, forming
water and carbon dioxide. However, if the plant material has accumulated
underwater or is buried in sediment, enough oxygen for full
decomposition may not be present and therefore only partial decomposition
may occur. This incomplete decomposition leads to the accumulation
of an organic substance called peat, which is the first stage in
coal formation. “Coalification” is the process of altering vegetation to
form peat, followed by the transformation of peat through lignite,
subbituminous, bituminous, semi-anthracite to anthracite and meta-anthracite
. the main reason for this difference is the influence of shrinkage during the
coalification process recently suggested that the reason for the poor cleat
system in high rank coal is the formation of plastic flow due to increased heat
and pressure, which may destroy the natural cleat system. Five different types
of natural cleats have been observed the two main are Face cleats and Butt
cleats and the three other fracture types have been identified in coal beds,
namely joints, faults and tertiary cleats Tertiary cleats are formed later in
geological time, after the formation of both face and butt cleats. Their
orientation is different from that of main cleats and they tend to terminate
between both face and butt cleats . Joints and faults are larger-scale
fractures, which are formed across coal and non-coal inter-beds.
Stimulation
Hydraulic fracturing is a commonly used technique to stimulate hydrocarbon
production by creating a network of highly conductive fractures in the area
surrounding a wellbore
The network of fractures created not only improves hydraulic conductivity of
the reservoir rock but also increases the surface area contributing to
hydrocarbon production.
When the pressure generated from the fluids exceeds the fracture pressure,
formation rocks break down to form fractures into which fracturing fluids are
injected. Prepad and/or pad fluids without proppant are usually pumped first to
initiate and generate fracture geometries. Proppant-laden fracturing fluids are
then injected after the pad fluids to further increase fracture length and width.
Proppant particles are transported into the factures thus created. Once the
pumping is finished and the pumping pressure withdraws, the fractures close
onto the proppant pack, but are kept open by the proppant.
During early years, oil-based fracturing fluids were used in hydraulic
fracturing
environmental and safety concerns associated with oil-based fracturing fluids
prompted the industry to develop more environmentally friendly water-based
fracturing fluids. fracturing process starts by injecting a fluid under pressure to
crack open the reservoir rock. Once the reservoir rock is cracked, the
fracturing fluid enters the cracks and starts propagating fractures away from
the wellbore. The advantage of using viscous fracturing fluids with wall-
building characteristics, such as guar polymers or gels, is that, under
pressure, a layer of filter cake will quickly form on the fracture faces
preventing further leakoff of the fracturing fluids into the surrounding formation
rock. In this way, the amount of fracturing fluid needed for a given fracture
length generated can be much less than that using non-viscous fracturing
fluids such as water with no filter cake to prevent the fluid leak-off .Exhibit
weak wall building capabilities and invade high permeability formations to
form internal filter cake that causes undesirable damage to the reservoir rock.
Another important function of the fracturing fluid is to carry and transport
proppants into the fractur. Proppants form a thin layer between the fracture
faces to keep the fractures open at the end of the fracturing
process.Currently, the most commonly used proppants are 20/40 mesh sand,
which account for _85% of the proppant use by the industry.4 Other
commonly used proppants include resin-coated sand, intermediate-strength
proppants, ceramic proppants, and high-strength proppants such as sintered
bauxite and zirconium oxide.
Without proppants, the fractures will close after the pumping of fracturing
fluids under high pressure is ceased.
Linear fluids are based on uncrosslinked solutions of polymers such as guar,
guar derivatives, cellulose, cellulose derivatives, other polysaccharides such
as xanthan or diutan, or synthetic polymers. Most of the water-based fluids
are formulated with guar and guar derivatives  has a medium viscosity of 10 –
30 cP.
When a crosslinker, typically made of borate or metal compounds such as
zirconium (Zr) and titanium (Ti) compounds, is added to a linear fluid, the
crosslinking species form bonding among polymer chains, resulting in a
viscous crosslinked fluid with enhanced gel viscosity viscosity of 100 – 1000
cP and improved high temperature stability without increasing the polymer
concentration.
metal crosslinked fracturing fluids transport proppant more efficiently than
borate crosslinked fluids. Metal crosslinked water-based fracturing fluids were
implemented for jobs at higher bottom-hole temperatures. The most common
metal cross-linkers are based on the zirconium and titanium compounds.
High velocities must be achieved within the fracture to prevent the proppants
from settling in the near wellbore region of the fracture or accumulating at the
bottom of the fracture, limiting the effective fracture height.
Viscous fracturing fluids in the fractures and the filter cakes formed on the
fracture faces must be degraded.Fracturing fluids are broken into low-
viscosity thin liquid by enzyme breakers or oxidative breakers such as
ammonium persulfate to flow back to the surface. This way, the damage
caused by the fracturing fluids to the formation and proppant pack is
minimized, and the proppant particles can stay behind in the fractures without
flowing back as
the broken fluid is too thin now to carry the proppant out of the fractures
Crosslinked fluids are widely applied for higher fracture conductivity
requirements.
additives like acid, friction reducer, surfactant, potassium chloride, scale
inhibitor, pH adjusting agent, iron control agents, corrosion inhibitors, and
biocides are also added to fracturing fluid at low concentrations to fulfill
different purposes for different fracturing jobs.
.
An effective fracturing fluid should possess a number of desired
characteristics such as easy preparation, low fluid loss, sufficient viscosity for
proppant transport, low friction pressure, sufficient shear resistance, low
formation and proppant pack damage, good reservoir compatibility, and
reasonable cost.

Most of the gelled or crosslinked fracturing fluids are based on guar and guar
derivatives guar fluids are the most widely used fluids in fracturing operations
likely due to the abundance and low cost of guar Guar, a longchain, high-
molecular-weight polymer, composed of mannose and galactose sugars, has
been widely used to viscosify water. The polymannose backbone of guar is
insoluble in water but the galactose branches confer
solubility in water. Up to 6–10% by weight insoluble residue is expected from
guar.

foam

Foams, which are mixtures of a gas phase, a liquid phase and a surfactant.
Determining foam rheology is complex and it is considered difficult to predict
the behavior of foam flow performance of the fracturing job using foam is
highly dependent on rheology of foam at bottom-hole conditions and its
efficiency will depends on non-Newtonian behavior of foam at bottom-hole.
Foams are considered versatile, complex, and unique due to their high
viscosity and low density characteristics Rheology of foam is dependent on
foam quality and foam apparent viscosity. Foam quality (fq) is defined as the
volume fraction of gas in foam. Generally, the higher the quality of a foam the
higher its viscosity. The high apparent viscosity of foam is due to the
interfacial structure of the foam bubbles high quality foam is called dry foam.
Foam apparent viscosity is determined by accounting for the contribution of
foam film thickness, bubble deformation, and the expansion of foam interface
due to surface tension gradient The foams have low foam quality called wet
foam, where the interaction of dispersed gas bubble is insignificant during the
foam flow and due to this reason viscosity of foam decreases.
Foam application also gives an increased capability of proppant distribution
and proppant placement over the entire fracture length. Due to high foam
apparent viscosity, it is achievable to have an improved proppant suspension
and placement. In foam fracturing, the utilization of gas as a replacement to a
significant amount of the liquid phase assists hydrocarbon recovery by
decreasing formation damage and water blocking. Foams are typically
generated by a surfactant solution (base fluid), in some cases, in combination
with a small amount of polymer as a stabilizer and other additives. Surfactants
that are used as a foaming agent may help to lower the surface Foam
utilization eliminates the need of any additional additives such as cross
linkers, gel breakers. It also decreases the amount of produced water and its
treatment cost. Moreover, the expansion of gas assists liquid flow back and
helps fracture cleanup. Shear rate, temperature and pressure effect the foam
bubble. changes in the foam apparent viscosity at different shear rate display
power law behavior viscosity of foam decreases in shear flow due to
Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which causes the tensile deformation, stretching,
and rupturing of lamella moreover the increase in temperature causes thermal
thinning of foam film which quickly drains liquid leaving behind thin lamella.
the foam texture at high temperature is relatively coarser and it has a wide
range of bubble size distribution whereas at low temperature, uniform and fine
textured foam is noticed. Hence, when the temperature is increased, the rate
of foam lamella drainage and coalescence of bubbles are quick, resulting in a
significant decrease in foam apparent viscosity and when the pressure
increases, the size of foam bubble significantly decreases, whereas the
lamella size becomes thinner and larger which results in slow liquid drainage
and this occur since at high pressure the generated are exceptionally strong
possessing high apparent viscosity the pressure is extremely high, it may be
possible that the lamella could not withstand and it ruptures.

Schematic of a foam system