US EPA

2084810 

Meetings & Symposia 

Paper 

Foaming of anhydrous methanol for well stimulation 

Crema, SC; Alm, RR 

1985 

http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/app/Preview.do?paperNumber=00013565&societyCode=SPE
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Use of foamed anhydrous methanol for stimulation of formations sensitive to water damage is a tested technology whose wider application is limited by the relatively high cost of the additive systems needed to obtain foams of a satisfactory quality and half-life.
The additive cost has now been sharply reduced by the introduction of new foaming systems which comprise a mixture of fluorosurfactant and a foam extender. While the foam extenders by themselves do not produce stable foams in anhydrous methanol, they dramatically decrease the amount of fluorosurfactant needed to produce satisfactory anhydrous methanol foams. Several compounds have been found to perform well when used in conjunction with fluorosurfactants. Of these, nonionic surfactants based on oxyalkylated fatty alcohols and amines or polyethers containing ethylene and propylene oxide units seem to be the most efficient foam extenders. The amount of fluorosurfactant needed to obtain satisfactory anhydrous methanol foams can be decreased by as much as two-thirds when 2% of these materials are added to the methanol solution. These results give a 50 to 60% decrease in the cost of the additive package without any decrease in the foam quality and half-life. 

SPE Oilfield and Geothermal Chemistry Symposium 

Phoenix, AZ 

March 9-11, 1985