An Experimental Investigation of Temperature and Aging Effects on Bentonite and Sepiolite Drilling Fluids

Author(s):  
Tariq Ahmed ◽  
Nura Makwashi

The selection and control of a suitable drilling fluid is necessary to successfully drill an oil and gas well. The rheological properties of drilling fluids vary with changes in conditions such as time and temperature. Slight changes in these conditions can cause unpredictable and significant changes in the mud’s properties. This makes it necessary to study the rheology of drilling fluids and how it is affected by these changes. At the rig sites, tests are carried out by the mud engineers to ensure that the properties of the drilling fluids are within the required limits. Similar tests were carried out at the laboratory in this work to determine the plastic viscosity, yield point, gel strength of mud samples at different conditions of ageing time, temperature and concentration of Xanthan gum (X.G) used as an additive. The Experiments carried out were grouped into three. The first was done with the aim to further explain how the Bentonite and Sepiolite water-based drilling fluids behaves after been aged for certain period. The second sets of experiments were conducted to investigate how the rheological properties of water-based Bentonite muds are affected by different concentration of xanthan gum added as an additive to improve the muds properties and the last sets of experiments were done to investigate the ageing effect on Bentonite mud treated with 250mg/L xanthan gum. Effects of temperature were also considered in these experiments with a 10℃ variation in the first group and 20℃ in the other two groups between readings from 20℃ to 60℃ . Results obtained indicated that Sepiolite water-based drilling fluid offers better plastic viscosity and yield point as compared to Bentonite water-based drilling fluids. It was also found that the viscosity and yield point of Sepiolite, Bentonite and treated Bentonite muds decreases with increase ageing time and temperature while the gel strength increases with ageing time but similarly decreases with increase in temperature. In the second group, results obtained indicated that plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength increases as concentration of xanthan gum increases, all of which decreases with increase in temperature.

2016 ◽  
Vol 864 ◽  
pp. 189-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Razak Ismail ◽  
Wan Rosli Wan Sulaiman ◽  
Mohd Zaidi Jaafar ◽  
Issham Ismail ◽  
Elisabet Sabu Hera

Nanoparticles are used to study the rheological characteristics of drilling fluids. Nanoparticles have high surface to volume ratio, therefore only small quantity is required to blend in the drilling fluid. This research evaluates the performance of nanosilica and multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as fluid loss additives in water based drilling fluid with various nanoparticles concentration and temperature. The results show that plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength of drilling fluid increases as the concentration of nanoparticles increased. Drilling fluid with nanosilica gives the highest filtrate loss of 12 ml and mudcake thickness of 10 inch at 1 g concentration at 300°F. However, drilling fluid with MWCNT shows a decreasing trend in fluid loss and mudcake thickness. The results also show that xanthan gum containing 1 g of MWCNT gives 4.9 ml fluid loss and mudcake thickness of 4 inch at 200°F. After aging, plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength of mud containing nanoparticles decrease significantly especially for 1 g of nanosilica and 0.01 g MWCNT. Fluid loss and mudcake thickness increased when the mud is exposed to temperature above 250°F. The results showed that xanthan gum with MWCNT gives a better rheological performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 12-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amel Habeeb Assi ◽  
Ramzi Riyadh Khazeem ◽  
Ahmed Salah Salem ◽  
Alaa Tahseen Ali

This research is focusing on finding more effective polymers that leads to enhance the rheological properties of Water Base Muds. The experiments are done for different types of mud for all substances which are Polyacrylamide, Xanthan gum, CMC (Carboxyl Methyl Cellulose). This study shows the effect of add polymer to red bentonite mud, effect of add polymer to Iraqi bentonite mud, the effect of add bentonite to polymer mud. The mud properties of Iraqi bentonite blank are enhanced after adding the polymers to the blank mix, CMC gives the highest value of plastic viscosity and Gel strength than others; X-anthan gives the highest value of yield point and gel strength than others. For the red bentonite mud, Polyacrylamide has the highest shear stress and yield point than the others polymers, but Xanthan has the highest effect on plastic viscosity than other polymers. All polymers reduce filtration loss. The polymer solution mud failed to suspend the barite so we cannot use it as drilling fluid even so this mud has good Rheological properties (PV and YP). The maximum amount of each polymer is founded for the studied clay types.                                                             


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Bayan Qadir Sofy Hussein ◽  
Khalid Mahmood Ismael Sharbazheri ◽  
Nabil Adiel Tayeb Ubaid

The rheological properties of drilling fluids have an important role in providing a stable wellbore and eliminating the borehole problems. Several materials including polymers (xanthan gum) can be used to improve these properties. In this study, the effect of the local Katira, as a new polymer, on the rheological properties of the drilling fluids prepared as the bentonite-water-based mud has been investigated in comparison with the conventional xanthan gum. Experimental work was done to study of rheological properties of several gums such as, local katira gum, and xanthan gum bentonite drilling mud. Different samples of drilling fluids are prepared adding the xanthan gum and local katira to the base drilling fluid at different concentrations using Hamilton Beach mixer. The prepared samples are passed through rheological property tests including the apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity, and yield point (YP) under different temperature conditions. The obtained results show that the viscosity is increased from 5 to 8.5 cp and YP is increased from 18.5 to 30.5 lb/100 ft2, with increasing the concentration of the xanthan gum from 0.1 to 0.4. However, the effect of the local katira in increasing the viscosity and YP is lower compared with the xanthan gum, which are ranged between 5–6 cp and 18.5–20.5 cp.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 6714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hany Gamal ◽  
Salaheldin Elkatatny ◽  
Salem Basfar ◽  
Abdulaziz Al-Majed

The design of drilling fluids is very important for the drilling operation success. The rheological properties play a key role in the performance of the drilling fluid. Therefore, studying the mud rheological properties of the water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite is essential. The main objectives of this study are to address the effect of pH changes on the rheological and filtration properties of the water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite and to provide a recommended pH range for this drilling fluid for a safe and high-performance drilling operation. Different samples of the water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite with different pH values were prepared, and the rheological properties such as plastic viscosity, yield point, and gel strength were measured. After that, the filtration test was performed under 300 psi differential pressure and 200 °F. The pH for the water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite significantly affects the mud rheology. The shear stress and shear rate relation were varying with the change in the pH. Increasing the pH from 8 to 12 resulted in decreasing the plastic viscosity by 53% and the yield point by 82%, respectively. The ratio of yield point / plastic viscosity was 1.4 for pH of 8 while it decreased to 0.5 for a pH of 11 and 12. There was a significant decrease in the gel strength readings by increasing the pH. The filtrate volume and filter cake thickness increased by increasing pH. The filtration volume increased from 9.5 cm3 to 12.6 cm3 by increasing the pH from 9 to 12. The filter cake thickness was 2 mm at 9 pH, while it was increased to 3.6 mm for 12 pH. It is recommended from the results to keep the pH of water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite in the range of 9 to 10 as it provides the optimum mud rheological and filtration properties. The findings of this study illustrated that keeping the pH in the range of 9 to 10 will reduce the plastic viscosity that will help in increasing the rate of penetration and reducing the required pump pressure to circulate the mud to the surface which will help to sustain the drilling operation. In addition, reducing the filtrate volume will produce a thin filter cake which will help in avoiding the pipe sticking and protect the environment. In general, optimizing the pH of the water-based drilling fluid based on bentonite in the range of 9 to 10 will improve the drilling operation and minimize the total cost.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 274-284
Author(s):  
Kaffayatullah Khan ◽  
Shaukat Ali Khan ◽  
Muhammad Umair Saleem ◽  
Muhammad Ashraf

Background: Bentonite clays are widely used in a drilling operation and play a vital role as a drilling fluid. Bentonite clay mud performs several functions during the drilling operation and facilitates the drilling process. Objective: In this study, the locally available raw bentonite clays were investigated to evaluate its potential use as a mud for borehole drilling operation after its improvement with the additives. Method: Rheological properties such as plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength were evaluated by using a viscometer and filtrate loss test was performed by using filter press on both locally available raw bentonite clays and the commercial bentonite named as Mill gel. Results: From the test results obtained for the up gradation of clays with the different beneficiating materials, the drastic increase in the plastic viscosity, yield point and gel strength has been observed. It shows that Xanthum gum produced better results for the improvement of rheological properties of such clays. Carboxymethyl cellulose and starch were used as additives and it has been observed that carboxymethyl cellulose has improved both viscosity and filtrate loss control, whereas starch muds have the best filtration control properties. Conclusion: Improved bentonite clays have rheological and filtration characteristics that have satisfied American Petroleum Institute specification at optimum conditions of clay. It was concluded that improved clays are the suitable material for the drilling operations and suitable to substitute commercial bentonite.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Amel Habeeb Assi ◽  
Ahmed Abdallah Haiawi

Recently, many materials have shown that they can be used as alternatives to chemicals materials in order to be used to improve the properties of drilling fluids. Some of these materials are banana peels and corn cobs which both are considered environmentally- friendly materials. The results of the X-ray diffraction examination have proved that the main components of these materials are cellulose and hemicellulose, which contribute greatly to the increasing of the effectiveness of these two materials. Due to their distinct composition, these two materials have improved the rheological properties (plastic viscosity and yield point) and reduced the filtration of the drilling fluids to a large extent. The addition rates used for each of the two materials (banana peels and corn cob) are 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% and 6%. As regard to banana peels, the results have shown that there is a direct correlation between the addition ratios, the increase in the rheological properties (plastic viscosity and yield point), and the decrease in filtration The corn cob has shown the same results. Also, 0.01% increase in the pH value was observed when adding a corn cob, while adding banana peels showed the opposite, as adding them led to 0.02% decrease in the pH value. Among the other properties that have been studied is density, as it has been noticed that there is no significant effect of these two materials on the density of drilling fluid. Moreover, the performance of these two materials has been compared with the PAC polymer. This research suggests that the possibility of moving towards corn cob and dried banana peels as additives for biodegradable drilling fluid. Apart from being environmentally friendly, the choice of using them is considered economically more efficient than other chemical additives. By all accounts, the above materials are an increasingly rational choice for moving forward for an environmentally friendly oil industry.


Author(s):  
Qian Ding ◽  
Baojiang Sun ◽  
Zhiyuan Wang ◽  
Yonghai Gao ◽  
Yu Gao ◽  
...  

Abstract In deep-water drilling, the drilling fluid is affected by the alternating temperature field derived from the low temperature of the seawater and the high temperature of the formation. The complicated wellbore temperature and pressure environments make the prediction of rheological properties of the drilling fluid difficult. In this study, the rheological properties of water-based drilling fluid in full temperature and pressure range of deep-water conditions were tested from 2 to 150 °C (35.6 to 302 °F) and 0.1 to 70 MPa (14.5 to 10000psi). The experiment was carried out by the OFI130-77 high temperature and high pressure rheometer. The experimental data were processed by multiple regression analysis method, and the mathematical model for predicting the apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity and yield point of water-based drilling fluid under high temperature and high pressure conditions was established. The experimental results show that when the temperature is lower than 65 °C (149 °F), the apparent viscosity and plastic viscosity of the water-based drilling fluid decrease significantly with increasing temperature. When the temperature is higher than 65 °C (149 °F), the apparent viscosity and plastic viscosity decrease slowly. Under low temperature conditions, the effect of pressure on the apparent viscosity and plastic viscosity of water-based drilling fluids is relatively significant. The calculated values of the prediction model have a good agreement with the experimental measurements. Compared with the traditional model, this prediction model has a significant improvement in the prediction accuracy in the low temperature section, which can provide a calculation basis for on-site application of deepwater drilling fluid.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arild Saasen

Controlling the annular frictional pressure losses is important in order to drill safely with overpressure without fracturing the formation. To predict these pressure losses, however, is not straightforward. First of all, the pressure losses depend on the annulus eccentricity. Moving the drillstring to the wall generates a wider flow channel in part of the annulus which reduces the frictional pressure losses significantly. The drillstring motion itself also affects the pressure loss significantly. The drillstring rotation, even for fairly small rotation rates, creates unstable flow and sometimes turbulence in the annulus even without axial flow. Transversal motion of the drillstring creates vortices that destabilize the flow. Consequently, the annular frictional pressure loss is increased even though the drilling fluid becomes thinner because of added shear rate. Naturally, the rheological properties of the drilling fluid play an important role. These rheological properties include more properties than the viscosity as measured by API procedures. It is impossible to use the same frictional pressure loss model for water based and oil based drilling fluids even if their viscosity profile is equal because of the different ways these fluids build viscosity. Water based drilling fluids are normally constructed as a polymer solution while the oil based are combinations of emulsions and dispersions. Furthermore, within both water based and oil based drilling fluids there are functional differences. These differences may be sufficiently large to require different models for two water based drilling fluids built with different types of polymers. In addition to these phenomena washouts and tool joints will create localised pressure losses. These localised pressure losses will again be coupled with the rheological properties of the drilling fluids. In this paper, all the above mentioned phenomena and their consequences for annular pressure losses will be discussed in detail. North Sea field data is used as an example. It is not straightforward to build general annular pressure loss models. This argument is based on flow stability analysis and the consequences of using drilling fluids with different rheological properties. These different rheological properties include shear dependent viscosity, elongational viscosity and other viscoelastic properties.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farqad Hadi ◽  
Ali Noori ◽  
Hussein Hussein ◽  
Ameer Khudhair

Abstract It is well known that drilling fluid is a key parameter for optimizing drilling operations, cleaning the hole, and managing the rig hydraulics and margins of surge and swab pressures. Although the experimental works present valid and reliable results, they are expensive and time consuming. On the other hand, continuous and regular determination of the rheological mud properties can perform its essential functions during well construction. More uncertainties in planning the drilling fluid properties meant that more challenges may be exposed during drilling operations. This study presents two predictive techniques, multiple regression analysis (MRA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs), to determine the rheological properties of water-based drilling fluid based on other simple measurable properties. While mud density (MW), marsh funnel (MF), and solid% are key input parameters in this study, the output functions or models are plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), apparent viscosity (AV), and gel strength. The prediction methods were demonstrated by means of a field case in eastern Iraq, using datasets from daily drilling reports of two wells in addition to the laboratory measurements. To test the performance ability of the developed models, two error-based metrics (determination coefficient R2 and root mean square error RMSE) have been used in this study. The current results of this study support the evidence that MW, MF, and solid% are consistent indexes for the prediction of rheological properties. Both mud density and solid content have a relative-significant effect on increasing PV, YP, AV, and gel strength. However, a scattering around each fit curve is observed which proved that one rheological property alone is not sufficient to estimate other properties. The results also reveal that both MRA and ANN are conservative in estimating the fluid rheological properties, but ANN is more precise than MRA. Eight empirical mathematical models with high performance capacity have been developed in this study to determine the rheological fluid properties based on simple and quick equipment as mud balance and marsh funnel. This study presents cost-effective models to determine the rheological fluid properties for future well planning in Iraqi oil fields.


SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (05) ◽  
pp. 2220-2233
Author(s):  
Weian Huang ◽  
Ming Lei ◽  
Jingwen Wang ◽  
Kaihe Lv ◽  
Lin Jiang ◽  
...  

Summary The rheology of drilling fluid is commonly regulated by chemical methods. In this work, a physical method of a high-frequency and high-voltage alternating current (AC) electric field to regulate the rheological properties of water-based drilling fluid is established. The effects of the electric field on the continuous phase and dispersed phase, as well as two kinds of water-based drilling fluids, were investigated, and the response relationship among rheological properties modeled by Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley (H-B) models and electric-field parameters was explored. Results showed that water conductivity increased when voltage reached 4 kV, whereas it was restored to the original state after 3 hours in the absence of an electric field, showing a memory effect. The effect was also observed on bentonite suspension, whose plastic viscosity increased with the aid of an electric field and decreased over time. Voltage showed the greatest effect on bentonite-suspension viscosity, followed by frequency and pulse-width ratio. Under the condition of voltage of 5 kV, frequency of 5 kHz, and pulse-width ratio of 80%, there was a maximum increase of 50% in viscosity. The addition of salts caused bentonite-suspension flocculation, and electric field reduced the consistency coefficient and relieved flocculation state. When polymers were incorporated in bentonite suspension, the electric field could decrease the adsorption amount between clay particles and polymeric additives such as amphoteric and acrylamide-based polymers. For two typical drilling fluids, the voltage of an introduced electric field was the main controlling factor to change the rheological properties; their plastic viscosity and consistency coefficient both started to increase when voltage reached 4 kV.


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