Swelling and stability testing for conformance control gels
GelTech Labs measures equilibrium swelling in brine and long-term mass retention for conformance control and water shutoff gels, from ambient to 60 °C. Developers screen gels in the lab and see which swell enough and hold their mass before committing to field use.
Discuss a pilot studyWeak gels screened out before they go downhole
Temperature and salinity tolerance gate a conformance control gel before field use. A lab screen on swelling in brine and mass retention catches a weak gel far more cheaply than the field does. Carousel's range stops at 60 °C, and many reservoirs run hotter.
- 3x
- higher precision than manual methods, so real differences between gels stand out.
- Ranked in your brine
- Every gel runs in the same brine, at your salinity and pH.
- Months of aging, unattended
- Carousel weighs every sample around the clock, nights and weekends.
Swelling to equilibrium in brine
A particle gel that swells too little leaves a channel open, and one that loses mass lets it reopen.
Fluid uptake
Illustrative · mean ± SD
Illustrative chart of fluid uptake over time.
Oilfield gel tests and what each answers
| Test | What it answers | How it's measured |
|---|---|---|
| Equilibrium swelling ratio | How much brine the gel holds at equilibrium. | Mass at equilibrium. |
| Swelling rate | How fast a particle gel swells once it's placed. | The uptake curve from the first minutes. |
| Salinity and pH effects | How swelling shifts with salinity and pH. | The same runs across media. |
| Long-term stability | Whether the gel holds its mass over a long aging run. | Hydrated mass through the run. |
Gel formats and conditions
Powders, microparticles and bulk gels. A months-long aging study fits in one run.
- Temperature
- Ambient to 60 °C
- Media
- pH 1.5 to 12
- Run length, unattended
- Minutes to months
What this testing doesn't cover
- Aging above 60 °C.
- Core-flood, plugging and reservoir-pressure tests.
- Field trials.
How a study starts
Get a dataset and report on your own material through a pilot study: ship us your formulation, or have us formulate it, and our R&D services team runs the study. Teams that test often can run the same methods on their own Carousel, with install, training and a 30-day trial.
Plan a gel stability study
Tell us the gel, the brine and the temperature it has to hold.