Aphrons obtained from different nonionic surfactants: Properties and filtration loss evaluation

Abstract

Aphrons were produced using nonionic surfactants by applying a differential pressure. Bubble size distribution was obtained from optical microscopy using FIJI-ImageJ2 program. The aim of this work was to correlate surfactants structures with aphrons properties (density and viscosity), size distribution and the number of bubbles. API fluid loss tests were based on standard proceedings specifications for water-based drilling fluids of Petrobras/Brazil. The structure of the nonionic surfactants showed a great influence on the fluid properties and the performance of the fluid contributing with a filtrate reduction up to 31% with the systems that were presented between 1088 and 1850 bubbles with diameters ranging from 33 to 104μm. These systems were produced by poly(ethylene oxide) with 7 ethylene oxide units, a poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide) with 6 ethylene oxide units and 3 propylene oxide units.