FADE
FADE is a family of dissolvable metal alloys and thermoplastic materials, which dissolve or degrade when coming in to contact with common wellbore fluids, including fresh water, brine, oil-based mud and acid.
Our dissolvable materials allow for temporary construction in the well and are designed to disappear within hours or days when in contact with the appropriate fluid. This simple solution leads to reduced costs, improved safety, and lower emissions.
FADE® washpipe-free system
Some wells may be planned with inner strings in the reservoir liner to enable placement of fluid in the reservoir section. With FADE® temporary plugs in the reservoir liner, or directly in Inflow Control Devices (ICDs) and Screens, the operation can be carried out without the use of inner strings, which ultimately saves cost and rig time.
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Design is customized to each application, with a variety of nozzle diameters and material grades available. Dissolution time can be customized from a few hours to several days depending on requirements.
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Temporary isolation of the wellbore
Dissolving balls can be used to eliminate the need for wireline runs associated with packer setting. Typically, a seat is installed on tubing below a packer and a dissolvable ball is pumped from the surface. Once the ball lands on the seat, the well can be pressurized to activate the packer and test from the annulus. After a pre-determined number of hours or days, the ball will dissolve and pass through the seat and continue to dissolve until the reaction is complete and nothing remains.
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The outer diameter of the ball and the inner diameter of the seat are designed with a minimum overlap, depending on required pressure. Typical overlaps are from 0.100” to 0.125”. If required, the seat can be made of cast iron and be milled out at a later stage.
Dissolvable insert for Sliding Sleeves (SSD)
When installed in the ports of any SSD, the liner can be installed without having to shift the sleeves into open position before start of injection or production. This can potentially save hours associated with coiled tubing or wireline operations.
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The design process
Designing tools with dissolvable material requires an in-depth knowledge of how the degradable material behaves in the well.
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We have carried out hundreds of tests with the FADE family of materials in order to build an engineering database which enables us to anticipate the products performance under a given set of conditions.
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We verify our modelling with full scale testing under pressure and temperature.
