The Utility of Threshold Reactive Tracers For Characterizing Temperature Distributions in Geothermal Reservoirs

Abstract

Reactive tracers have long been investigated as a means to measure geothermal temperature profiles and predict thermal breakthrough, but this method has only been used in practice to estimate an effective (or average) reservoir temperature. This means that spatial information about the temperature profile is lost, and would necessitate that a sequence of reactive tracer tests be carried out at different times to track the thermal front. Advances in nanotechnology have made feasible the use of “nanoreactors” that prevent reaction from occurring until a threshold temperature is reached. We demonstrate through modeling that this could enable engineers to determine the location of temperature measurements to map the interwell temperature profile at a given time. This could enable better reservoir fracture geometry characterization and thermal breakthrough prediction.