Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p>Canada&rsquo;s shale gas resources represent an emerging low-cost, clean burning energy source. However, production output from shale gas wells has been seen to decline much more rapidly than conventional wells, dropping up to 95% after only a few years. This requires that ever more wells need to be drilled or reconditioned to maintain production levels, thereby increasing costs, use of limited water resources, and need for disposal of hydraulic fracturing fluids. Reasons for these production declines are poorly understood, but are ascribed to loss of reservoir pressure and changes in reservoir permeability over time. Fracture permeability represents the predominant flow path and can decrease over time due to degradation of proppants, fracture closure, precipitation of carbonates, and growth of uncultivated microbial communities. The latter are well known agents of biomineralization and through their growth and metabolic activities in subsurface environments have been observed to influence groundwater flow regimes. Bactericides are used to protect the reservoir from contamination; however, recent testing of hydraulic fracturing flowback fluids by our team have shown that these biocides remain only partly effective and that piezophillic and thermophillic (pressure and temperature loving) microbes grow in and populate hydraulic fracturing fluids to relatively high cell densities.</p> <p>The equipment requested here will leverage our multidisciplinary team&rsquo;s expertise in rock mechanics and geomicrobiology to experimentally address and diagnose the growth of microorganisms in hydraulically fractured shale gas reservoir rocks and to measure their influence on fracture permeability and fluid flow. It will also leverage an existing state-of-the-art rock testing facility and add unique testing capabilities to more fully explore the complex coupled processes experienced in hydraulic fracture systems at depth. With this equipment, a set of &ldquo;first-of-their-kind&rdquo; experiments will be performed allowing us to: i) generate a hydraulic fracture under similar pressure and temperature conditions experienced in situ, ii) to measure its initial permeability, and iii) to test the role of microbes in generating fracture infill and reducing permeability over time. The information generated will allow us to develop solutions to fluid flow and fracture infill problems that take into consideration the roles played by microorganisms. It will also help to provide a genetic blueprint for developing engineering biotechnology solutions to address related shale gas production and water use/disposal issues. Separately, the equipment will also create numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration involving colleagues studying the role and evolution of fracture permeability related to CO2 sequestration, geothermal energy, and earthquake, rockslide and volcanic hazards.</p>