NaturaFrac | Advanced Dynamic Formation Stimulation

01 · Technology

Rocket science, applied to rock mechanics.

Every stimulation method is a pressure-versus-time curve. Explosives spike in microseconds and shatter the near-bore rock. Hydraulic fracturing ramps over seconds and follows the path of least resistance. NaturaFrac sits in between, and repeats.

Wellbore pressure vs. time (log psi) with the resulting fracture pattern around the bore. Timescales differ by row.

Combustion gas as the fracturing fluid

A sealed section of the wellbore is charged with industrial fuel and oxidant and ignited. The burn produces a high-pressure, high-rate gas pulse directly against the formation wall, at pressurization rates that overpower the in-situ stress field and open many radial tensile fractures at once, then extend them as the gas permeates the new cracks.

Because the tool fires again and again from a single placement, the fracture network grows pulse by pulse. The pressure-time profile is designed to the formation rather than dictated by it.

Hydraulic fracturing vs. NaturaFrac

Reservoir contact starts at the wellbore wall.

Hydraulic fracturing depends on the perforations, the stress field and a tortuous, pinched entry, and grows one planar fracture that bypasses bedding planes and natural fractures. NaturaFrac loads the whole bore wall at once and, pulse by pulse from a single tool position, grows a connected radial network that opens the weak planes instead of sliding past them.

More contact. More complexity. No water.

Illustrative comparison of stimulation mechanisms, not measured data. Geometry, pulse count and timescales are simplified for clarity.

Custom pressure-time profiles

Every treatment is built from variable rise time, peak pressure (5:1 to 30:1 amplification over bore pressure), pulse duration, pulse repetition and post-pulse chemistry. Fracture complexity, aperture and directionality follow.

Not path-of-least-resistance

At high strain rates the pulse loads the whole bore wall uniformly, creating long, self-propping tensile fractures instead of a single wing that runs into an unintended zone or leaks off.

Off-the-shelf, mine-compatible

Industrial fuel and oxidants. Oil-and-gas heritage packers and conveyance. Industrial controls and remote operation. Reactants can be sourced locally, which simplifies transport and permitting.

Four levers, one tool

The same downhole combustion platform can be set up to deliver pressure, heat, vibration or chemistry, in whatever combination the job needs.

PressureControllable multiples of formation pressure, applied over roughly a second, tens of milliseconds, or under a millisecond.

HeatHot or warm gas generation in the bore, with high flash temperatures where chemistry benefits.

VibrationTailored rise times and pulse repetition for agitation, fluid movement and precipitate management.

ChemistryHydrocarbon-rich or oxygen-rich post-combustion products, or a tertiary working fluid, matched to the workover.

02 · The tool

One core platform, two ways to put energy in the ground.

The downhole tool seals a section of bore and works inside it. For fracturing it treats a short interval at a time and moves on; for pulsed fluids injection it spans the injection section of the well.

What goes downhole

Fuel, oxidant, power, data and control reach the tool through coiled tubing or wireline conveyance. High-pressure ignition, combustion-mode control and distributed ignition give uniform pressurization along the sealed length. Surface systems handle gas supply and conditioning, safety interlocks, high-speed data and fully remote operation.

Pulses per placement: Single to effectively unlimited, by conveyance type
Well environment: Wet or dry rock · cased or open hole · any well orientation · high-temperature compatible
Sealing & conveyance: Oil-and-gas heritage packers, coiled tubing and wireline
Operation: Remote, with multi-channel monitoring and hazardous-atmosphere detection

Rendering of the NaturaFrac downhole tool string lying in a bore through grey rock. — Downhole tool string. Multiple architectures and configurations share the same core combustion, ignition and control technology.

Dynamic pulsed gas stimulation

Formation fracturing and existing-well stimulation. Builds a complex, connected fracture matrix outward from the bore and between bores.

New fracture matrix in tight formations
Enhancement of existing or naturally disrupted formations
Crack initiation, clean-out, re-stimulation and remediation

Dynamic pulsed fluids injection (DPIT)

Combustion pressure energizes a working fluid instead of fracturing directly. Moves leachate, chemicals or proppant through the formation at peak rates no surface pump can match.

Leachate sweep between injection and recovery wells
Acid, surfactant, oxidant or CO₂ placement
Proppant placement with dynamic fracture dilation

~800:1peak pumping power~19:1peak pumping rate

A section of the full-scale NaturaFrac tool on a work stand. — Full-scale tool section on the bench.

A technician at the high-pressure gas supply and conditioning panel. — High-pressure gas supply and conditioning.

Remote control room with monitors showing site cameras and control screens. — Remote operations: every system is run and monitored from a distance.

03 · Applications

Where engineered permeability pays.

The same pulse physics solves different problems in each sector. Four are in active development.

Simulated flow between injection and recovery wells, before and after pulsed injection, with low-flow dead zones highlighted.

Mining

In-situ recovery (ISR)

Engineer a fracture matrix between wellbores to unlock deep and stranded copper, uranium, lithium and other ore bodies without moving the rock. Pulsed fluids injection then raises saturation and sweep efficiency between wells.

Contaminants stay underground; smaller footprint and water burden
Flow pushed into low-flow and dead zones that steady injection never reaches
Heap leach rescue: de-compact low-permeability zones in existing pads without the collapse risk of current remedial options

$FDEM simulation of a stope with preconditioning holes, fractures colored by tensile or shear mode.$

Mining

Preconditioning, presplitting & destressing

Controllable destressing of the rock mass ahead of stopes, benches and tunnels. Long tensile fractures that conventional blasting cannot produce, with minimal near-bore crush zone. The same tool, set slower and softer, splits a clean wall.

Finer blast fragmentation and lower comminution energy
Stress relief against rock burst and collapse; softer rock ahead of TBMs
Mine-compatible reactants with no explosives logistics

$Two simulation panels: complex fracture generation from a single bore, and dynamic fluids placement between several bores.$

Geothermal

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS)

Break down deep hard rock to grow the heat-exchange volume connected between injection and production wells, with extensive fracture overlap between wells that hydraulic fracturing struggles to achieve, in any well configuration.

Added reservoir volume without short-circuiting flow paths
Works in wet and dry rock; high-temperature tool architecture
Single-well EGS enabler: downhole circulation and near-bore heat transfer augmentation

$Looking down a full-scale test bore after firing: radial fractures run outward from the hole through the surrounding block.$

Energy

Oil & gas

Planar bi-wing hydraulic fractures are governed by the local stress state, bypass bedding planes and natural fractures, and leave most of the oil in place. A pulsed pre-treatment puts complex geometry around the wellbore before the frac job, and does it without water.

Near-wellbore complex fracture initiation ahead of hydraulic fracturing: lower initiation pressure, more effective fractures
Hot, hydrocarbon-rich post-combustion chemistry that acts as an in-situ solvent for asphaltene and paraffin blockages
Water-free re-fracturing, with a path to full fracturing programs in seismically disrupted beds where hydraulic fracturing underperforms

Presplit, side by side

A clean wall shouldn't start with crushed rock.

Conventional presplitting fires closely spaced explosive holes. Each sends a sharp shock that crushes the rock around it, and the overlapping damage zones leave cracked rock in the final wall. The NaturaFrac presplit keeps fuel and oxidant separate until it fires, pushes rather than crushes, and drives fractures along the line from hole to hole.

Fewer holes. Less damage. Cleaner wall.

Illustrative comparison of presplit mechanisms, not measured data. NaturaFrac ratings are design targets pending field demonstration.

04 · Validation

Modeled, built, fired at full scale.

NaturaFrac has taken the technology from combustion physics to a full-size downhole tool that has fractured a full-scale wellbore surrogate on command, with results that match the predictive models.

Fracture physics2D and 3D dynamic fracturing code validated
Discrete and combined finite-discrete element (FDEM) simulation of pressure level versus in-situ stress, bore-to-bore fracturing and gas-in-fracture behavior, calibrated against experiment. Foundational DEM work presented at the 5th Itasca Symposium, 2020.
Full-scale programFull-size tool designed, built and tested
A complete design-build-test program with a major mining company validated predictive modeling, the controllable range of borehole pressurization, and the robustness of the tool, surface systems and remote controls.
Peer reviewPublished in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
Experimental results showed the tool applying a circumferentially and axially uniform high-rate pressure pulse to the wellbore and producing a complex fracture network in a high-strength surrogate formation.
Fluids placementDOE SBIR Phase I completed for pulsed injection
The U.S. Department of Energy supported design, modeling and techno-economic analysis of Dynamic Pulsed Injection Technology for in-situ recovery mining. Simulations showed flow reaching ore-body zones steady injection cannot.
NowReady for downhole trials
Surface systems, controls and safety systems are mature and mobile. Conveyance options are identified with vendors. The tool is ready to industrialize for a specific downhole application with a pilot partner.

Peer-reviewed

Development of a Novel Dynamic Wellbore Fracturing Technology by Integrating Full-Scale Experimental Testing and FDEM Numerical Simulations

Lisjak, Hinkey, Andersen, Mahabadi, Detournay, Araujo and Rimmelin. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 2024.

doi.org/10.1007/s00603-024-04026-x

Programs and partners to date

TRL 1–3Concept and lab proof

TRL 4–5Subsystem validation

TRL 6Full-scale prototype validated

TRL 7Field pilot: the next step

TRL 8–9Commercial deployment

05 · Company

Built by people who have done this in aerospace, power and oilfield.

NaturaFrac, Inc. was founded in 2014 to bring pulsed combustion power from the aerospace and industrial sectors into the subsurface. Engineering, modeling and manufacturing are delivered through a long-standing network of specialist collaborators and research institutions.

Jacob Andersen, MBA

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Jacob leads NaturaFrac's strategy, partnerships and IP portfolio, and has guided the technology from first principles to full-scale testing. His background spans technology start-up management, combustion program management, surface mining operations and safety program development.

Liberty Lake, WashingtonHeadquarters in the Pacific Northwest.

Patented & patent pendingIgnition, combustion-mode control, downhole mixing, sealing integration and stimulation methods.

Full test and fabrication kitHigh-speed data acquisition, high-pressure gas handling, hydraulics to 10 kpsi and remote control systems, field-mobile.

06 · Contact

Tell us about your formation.

Rock type, depth, well design and what you need the permeability to do. We will tell you plainly whether pulsed combustion is the right tool.

Email: jacob@naturafrac.com
Phone: 509-496-7068
Mail: NaturaFrac, Inc.
PO Box 655
Liberty Lake, WA 99019

Horsepower, put downhole.