Why can boric acid be used as petroleum crosslinker?

In the petroleum industry, crosslinker is one of the important additives of drilling fluid, plugging agent and fracturing fluid, and plays an important role in the process of oil and gas exploitation. At present, boron crosslinker has been widely used abroad. In the process of oil and gas field exploitation, in order to improve the oil recovery, the boron-containing water-based gel fracturing fluid plays a great advantage in fracturing and acidizing measures. First, through the cross-linked form of boron, there is no irreparable loss of quality during the process of breaking and reassembling. Second, because borates dissolve in water, they form gels that are easier to clean up and protect the environment than cross-linkers that contain other substances. In addition, borate is a good cement retarder during drilling and completion, ensuring that the pump is set in place and then cured. In completions, borate can also be used as a bridging agent to strengthen the polymer gel, enabling the plugging material containing the refractory borate liquid to perform normal plugging treatment and prevent the drilling fluid from flowing into the outer layer of the wellbore. In addition, it also plays a role in regulating PH value, lubrication, corrosion inhibition and so on in drilling fluid. Therefore, the reason why boric acid can be used as petroleum crosslinking agent is inseparable from its own excellent characteristics. With low price, clean, non-toxic and other advantages, it has a wide range of application prospects in modern and future oil and gas field drilling and development process.