Interpreting Water Uptake by Shale with Ion Exchange, Surface Complexation, and Disjoining Pressure

Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing is a commonly used method to maximize production from shale gas reservoirs. However, the recovery of flowback water after hydraulic fracturing is relatively low, which gives rise to technical and environmental concerns. Although it is widely accepted that the water uptake is due to physicochemical fluid–shale interactions caused by the capillary forces, much of the studies up to now are just descriptive in nature...