Rheological and filtration characteristics of drilling fluids enhanced by nanoparticles with selected additives: An experimental study

Abstract

The suspension properties of drilling fluids containing pure and polymer-treated (partially-hydrolyzed polyacrylamide or Xanthan gum) clay nanoparticles are compared with those of a conventional water-and-bentonite-based drilling fluid, used as the reference sample. Additionally, the mud weight, plastic viscosity, apparent viscosity, yield point, primary and secondary gelatinization properties, pH, and filtration properties of the various drilling fluids studied are also measured and compared. The performance of each drilling fluid type is evaluated with respect in terms of its ability to reduce mud cake thickness and fluid loss thereby inhibiting differential-pipe-sticking. For that scenario, the mud-cake thickness is varied, and the filtration properties of the drilling fluids are measured as an indicator of potential well-diameter reduction, caused by mud cake, adjacent to permeable formations. The novel results show that nanoparticles do significantly enhance the rheological and filtration characteristics of drilling fluids. A pure-clay-nanoparticle suspension, without any additives, reduced fluid loss to about 42% and reduced mud cake thickness to 30% compared to the reference sample. The xanthan-gum-treated-clay-nanoparticle drilling fluid showed good fluid loss control and reduced fluid loss by 61% compared to the reference sample. The presence of nanofluids also leads to reduced mud-cake thicknesses, directly mitigating the risks of differential pipe sticking.