Use of SiO2 Nanoparticles in Water-Based Drilling Fluids for Improved Energy Consumption and Rheology: A Laboratory Study

SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Masoud Rashidi ◽  
Ahmad Sedaghat ◽  
Biltayib Misbah ◽  
Mohammad Sabati ◽  
Koshy Vaidyan

Summary In wellbore drilling, it is appreciable to devise methods to study the rheology of high-speed annulus fluid flows. In this paper, a high-speedTaylor-Couette system (TCS) was devised to explore non-Newtonian fluid flow behavior appraised by SiO2 nanoparticles toward friction reduction, power saving, and rheology modeling of nanofluids. Water-based mud (WBM) as an environmentally friendly drilling fluid is investigated by adding SiO2 nanoparticles at four low-volume concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1% at speeds from 0 to 1,600 rev/min with 200 rev/min intervals in the TCS. Five rheology models based on the Herschel-Bulkley-Extended (HBE) model and a generalized Reynolds number were optimized to fit with the experimental data. All models except the Newtonian model have fitted all nanofluids with high accuracy, especially Bingham and HBE models. Negative deviation from Darcy friction was avoided for power-law (PL) and Herschel-Bulkley (HB) models using the modification to the generalized Reynolds number. Higher energy saving and enhanced rheology is reported particularly at lower volume concentrations of SiO2 WBM nanofluids. The Darcy friction factor deviated from laminar flow at the generalized Reynolds number beyond 2,000 into turbulent, which is a good indicator for the flow condition of complex non-Newtonian nanofluids in real-lifeapplication.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8387
Author(s):  
Xiaohu Quan ◽  
Guancheng Jiang ◽  
Xuwu Luo ◽  
Yinbo He ◽  
Tengfei Dong

After more than a century of development, drilling fluid technology has become capable of dealing with various extreme conditions. As the exploration and development targets shift towards complex oil and gas resources, however, the geological and surface conditions encountered get increasingly complex, which poses a greater challenge to drilling fluid. In this paper, bionics is introduced into the field of drilling fluids, imitating the characteristics, functions, structures, and principles of mussels and earthworms, and a bionic wall-fixing agent with side chains containing catechol functional groups to strengthen the wellbore is prepared. A bionic bonding lubricant that when making the direct friction between the two is changed to the sliding between the membranes is prepared. Compared with the advanced technology introduced from abroad, the strength of the rock is not only reduced but increased by more than 14%, the friction reduction rate is improved by 12.3%. Their mechanism of action and influencing factors are revealed from the macro and micro perspectives. Combined with the formation conditions encountered, other treatment agents are applied to develop a novel technology of bionic strengthened borehole and high lubricity water-based drilling fluid with comparable inhibition and lubricity to oil-based drilling fluid. In comparison with technology, the rate of well collapse is reduced by as much as 82.6%, the accident rate of stuck pipe is brought down by as much as 86.4%, the complication of stuck block is reduced by as much as 79.7%, and the overall cost is lowered by more than 30%. It is truly a safe, efficient, economic, environmentally friendly drilling fluid technology.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1644
Author(s):  
Camilo Pedrosa ◽  
Arild Saasen ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Jan David Ytrehus

The cuttings transport efficiency of various drilling fluids has been studied in several approaches. This is an important aspect, since hole cleaning is often a bottleneck in well construction. The studies so far have targeted the drilling fluid cuttings’ transport capability through experiments, simulations or field data. Observed differences in the efficiency due to changes in the drilling fluid properties and compositions have been reported but not always fully understood. In this study, the cuttings bed, wetted with a single drilling fluid, was evaluated. The experiments were performed with parallel plates in an Anton Paar Physica 301 rheometer. The results showed systematic differences in the internal friction behaviors between tests of beds with oil-based and beds with water-based fluids. The observations indicated that cutting beds wetted with a polymeric water-based fluid released clusters of particles when external forces overcame the bonding forces and the beds started to break up. Similarly, it was observed that an oil-based fluid wetted bed allowed particles to break free as single particles. These findings may explain the observed differences in previous cutting transport studies.


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.


Author(s):  
E.A. Flik ◽  
◽  
Y.E. Kolodyazhnaya

The article assesses the environmental safety of drilling fluids that are currently widely used in the oil and gas industry. It shows active development of water-based drilling fluid systems using xanthan biopolymer.


Author(s):  
Jan David Ytrehus ◽  
Ali Taghipour ◽  
Sneha Sayindla ◽  
Bjørnar Lund ◽  
Benjamin Werner ◽  
...  

One important requirement for a drilling fluid is the ability to transport the cuttings out of the borehole. Improved hole cleaning is a key to solve several challenges in the drilling industry and will allow both longer wells and improved quality of well construction. It has been observed, however, that drilling fluids with similar properties according to the API standard can have significantly different behavior with respect to hole cleaning performance. The reasons for this are not fully understood. This paper presents results from flow loop laboratory tests without and with injected cuttings size particles using a base oil and a commercial oil based drilling fluid. The results demonstrate the importance of the rheological properties of the fluids for the hole cleaning performance. A thorough investigation of the viscoelastic properties of the fluids was performed with a Fann viscometer and a Paar-Physica rheometer, and was used to interpret the results from the flow loop experiments. Improved understanding of the fluid properties relevant to hole cleaning performance will help develop better models of wellbore hydraulics used in planning of well operations. Eventually this may lead to higher ROP with water based drilling fluids as obtained with oil based drilling fluids. This may ease cuttings handling in many operations and thereby significantly reduce the drilling cost using (normally) more environmentally friendly fluids. The experiments have been conducted as part of an industry-sponsored research project where understanding the hole cleaning performance of various oil and water based drilling fluids is the aim. The experiments have been performed under realistic conditions. The flow loop includes a 10 meter long test section with 2″ OD freely rotating drillstring inside a 4″ ID wellbore made of concrete. Sand particles were injected while circulating the drilling fluid through the test section in horizontal position.


2012 ◽  
Vol 490-495 ◽  
pp. 3114-3118
Author(s):  
Xiao Ling Jiang ◽  
Zong Ming Lei ◽  
Kai Wei

With six-speed rotary viscometer measuring the rheology of drilling fluid at low temperature, during the high-speed process, the drilling fluid temperature is not constant at low temperature, which leads to the inaccuracy in rheological measurement. When R/S rheometer is used cooperating with constant low-temperature box , the temperature remains stable during the process of determining the drilling fluid rheology under low temperature. The R/S rheometer and the six-speed rotational viscometer are both coaxial rotational viscometers, but they work in different ways and the two cylindrical clearance between them are different.How to make two viscometer determination result can maintain consistent?The experimental results show that, The use of R/S rheometer, with the shear rate for 900s-1 shear stress values instead of six speed rotary viscometer shear rate for 1022s-1 shear stress values.Then use two-point formula to calculate rheological parameters.The R/S rheometer rheological parameter variation with temperature has a good linear relationship,Can better reflect the rheological properties of drilling fluids with low temperature changerule


Author(s):  
Bunyami Shafie ◽  
Lee Huei Hong ◽  
Phene Neoh Pei Nee ◽  
Fatin Hana Naning ◽  
Tze Jin Wong ◽  
...  

Drilling mud is a dense, viscous fluid mixture used in oil and gas drilling operations to bring rock cuttings to the earth's surface from the boreholes as well as to lubricate and cool the drill bit. Water-based mud is commonly used due to its relatively inexpensive and easy to dispose of. However, several components and additives in the muds become increasingly cautious and restricted. Starch was introduced as a safe and biodegradable additive into the water-based drilling fluid, in line with an environmental health concern. In this study, the suitability of four local rice flours and their heat moistures derivatives to be incorporated in the formulation of water-based drilling fluid was investigated. They were selected due to their natural amylose contents (waxy, low, intermediate, and high). They were also heat moisture treated to increase their amylose contents. Results showed that the addition of the rice flours into water-based mud significantly reduced the density, viscosity, and filtrate volume. However, the gel strength of the mud was increased. The rice flours, either native or heat moisture treated, could serve as additives to provide a variety of low cost and environmentally friendly drilling fluids to be incorporated and fitted into different drilling activity.


Author(s):  
Erfan Veisi ◽  
Mastaneh Hajipour ◽  
Ebrahim Biniaz Delijani

Cooling the drill bit is one of the major functions of drilling fluids, especially in high temperature deep drilling operations. Designing stable drilling fluids with proper thermal properties is a great challenge. Identifying appropriate additives for the drilling fluid can mitigate drill-bit erosion or deformation caused by induced thermal stress. The unique advantages of nanoparticles may enhance thermal characteristics of drilling fluids. The impacts of nanoparticles on the specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, rheological, and filtration control characteristics of water‐based drilling fluids were experimentally investigated and compared in this study. Al2O3, CuO, and Cu nanoparticles were used to prepare the water-based drilling nanofluid samples with various concentrations, using the two-step method. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were utilized to study the nanoparticle samples. The nanofluids stability and particle size distribution were, furthermore, examined using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The experimental results indicated that thermal and rheological characteristics are enhanced in the presence of nanoparticles. The best enhancement in drilling fluid heat capacity and thermal conductivity was obtained as 15.6% and 12%, respectively by adding 0.9 wt% Cu nanoparticles. Furthermore, significant improvement was observed in the rheological characteristics such as the apparent and plastic viscosities, yield point, and gel strength of the drilling nanofluids compared to the base drilling fluid. Addition of nanoparticles resulted in reduced fluid loss and formation damage. The permeability of filter cakes decreased with increasing the nanoparticles concentration, but no significant effect in filter cake thickness was observed. The results reveal that the application of nanoparticles may reduce drill-bit replacement costs by improving the thermal and drilling fluid rheological characteristics and decrease the formation damage due to mud filtrate invasion.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian-Bin Huang ◽  
Jin-Sheng Sun ◽  
Yi Huang ◽  
Bang-Chuan Yan ◽  
Xiao-Dong Dong ◽  
...  

Abstract High-performance water-based drilling fluids (HPWBFs) are essential to wellbore stability in shale gas exploration and development. Laponite is a synthetic hectorite clay composed of disk-shaped nanoparticles. This paper analyzed the application potential of laponite in HPWBFs by evaluating its shale inhibition, plugging and lubrication performances. Shale inhibition performance was studied by linear swelling test and shale recovery test. Plugging performance was analyzed by nitrogen adsorption experiment and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. Extreme pressure lubricity test was used to evaluate the lubrication property. Experimental results show that laponite has good shale inhibition property, which is better than commonly used shale inhibitors, such as polyamine and KCl. Laponite can effectively plug shale pores. It considerably decreases the surface area and pore volume of shale, and SEM results show that it can reduce the porosity of shale and form a seamless nanofilm. Laponite is beneficial to increase lubricating property of drilling fluid by enhancing the drill pipes/wellbore interface smoothness and isolating the direct contact between wellbore and drill string. Besides, laponite can reduce the fluid loss volume. According to mechanism analysis, the good performance of laponite nanoparticles is mainly attributed to the disk-like nanostructure and the charged surfaces.


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