A comprehensive research in chemical consolidator/stabilizer agents on sand production control

Sand or fine is a typical product in many processing of oil production from unconsolidated and weakly consolidated formations. High variation of in situ stress, fluid production rate above maximum sand-free rate, and water production are main primary sources of the sand production. Sand production can cause hazardous operational problems to the facilities, pipes, and wellbore. Hence, it is a significant problem that requires to be managed and studied. To minimize the operational impacts of particle migration, chemical consolidators/stabilizers can be utilized to alter surface properties of sand and formation particles. The decreasing zeta potential besides increasing the cohesion between sand and formation particles could result in controlled sand production. However, understanding the mechanism and application of chemical methods to alleviate sand production is not well-discussed. This study presents and discusses chemical consolidator/stabilizer agents, which may be applied for managing sand production in the petroleum industry. This was achieved through a comprehension review of the literature and the application of chemical consolidators/stabilizers in other fields such as bauxite residue (red mud and red sand) control, desert sand, mine reclamation, wind erosion control, unpaved road modification, and enhancement of water retention and soil infiltration properties that are similar to formation sand. Standard experimental methods in various fields, for performance analysis of chemical consolidator/stabilizer agents, are compared and summarized. The consolidation/stabilization mechanisms of various types of chemical consolidator/stabilizer agents are discussed and compared. This review potentially can be used to inhibit blind usage of chemicals and functions as a reference to additional research in sand production control in petroleum engineering. The results are appropriate for extending quantitative approaches for performance evaluation of sand consolidator/stabilizer agents.