Well treatment fiber delivery system
AssigneeEastman Chemical Company
InventorsNick Allen Collins, S. M. Bedarul Islam, Brian Douglas Seiler, Ronald Buford Sheppard, Steven Anthony Wilson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fiber delivery system capable of providing cut fiber segments for use in treating an oil and/or gas well. The fiber delivery system can utilize bales of a continuous filamentary tow that are transported to the well site from a remote manufacturing location. At the well site, a multifilament strand can be pulled off the bale, opened, and cut to provide cut fiber segments. The cut fiber segments can be mixed with other well treatment components to create a well treatment medium that is introduced into the well as part of a drilling, stimulation, or cementing process.
Claims27
A well treatment method comprising:
- (a) providing at least 100 meters of a continuous filamentary tow in the form of a bale wherein said continuous filamentary tow is formed of a water degradable material that exhibits a weight loss of at least 75 percent after 7 days in liquid deionized water maintained at 130° C.;
- (b) drawing a strand of said filamentary tow off said bale, wherein said strand comprises a plurality of individual continuous filaments;
- (c) increasing the average spacing between said individual continuous filaments of said strand to thereby produce an opened strand, wherein said strand is passed over at least one smooth surface at a bend angle of less than 70 degrees;
- (d) cutting said opened strand into cut fiber segments;
- (e) combining said cut fiber segments with one or more additional components to form a well treatment medium;
- and
- (f) introducing said well treatment medium into a well.
A well treatment system comprising:
- (a) a bale station for receiving a bale of continuous filamentary tow, wherein said continuous filamentary tow is formed of a water degradable material that exhibits a weight loss of at least 75 percent after 7 days in liquid deionized water maintained at 130° C.;
- (b) a puller for drawing a strand of said continuous filamentary tow off said bale, wherein said strand comprises at least 100 individual continuous filaments;
- (c) an opener for receiving said strand and increasing the average spacing between said individual continuous filaments, thereby producing an opened strand, wherein said opener comprises a flattening surface across which said strand passes at a bend angle of less than 170 degrees;
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- (d) a chopper for cutting said opened strand into cut fiber segments.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.