Study of Environmentally Friendly Wild Jujube Pit Powder as a Water-Based Drilling Fluid Additive

Abstract

The development of offshore oil and gas requires environmental protection during the drilling process. However, the existing drilling fluid additives cannot form an efficient environmentally friendly drilling fluid system. At the same time, some environmentally friendly drilling fluid additives cannot be widely used due to their high cost and complicated production process. In this paper, a natural material named wild jujube pit powder (WJPP) was used to improve the performance of the drilling fluid for the first time. The viscosity, shear force, shear thinning, rheology, filtration loss, and lubrication properties of the drilling fluid are discussed. By means of microstructure analysis, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and particle size analysis, the properties of WJPP and the drilling fluid system containing WJPP (i.e., rheological property, lubrication property, and filtration loss property) were studied. The results show that the microscopic appearance of WJPP was spherical, fibrous, block, and flake, the thermal decomposition temperature was 273.9 °C, and the suspension of WJPP was slightly acidic. WJPP can increase the viscosity, reduce the filtration loss, enhance the shear thinning and thixotropy, and reduce the lubrication coefficient of the drilling fluid. With the decrease in the particle size of WJPP, the shear thinning and thixotropy of the drilling fluid are enhanced, the viscosity and shear force increased, and the filtration loss and lubrication coefficient decreased. With the increase in the dosage, the shear thinning of the drilling fluid was enhanced, the filtration loss and coefficient of friction decreased, the viscosity and shear force increased, while the thixotropy did not change significantly. The microstructure test of mud cake showed that WJPP could form a grid structure. Combined with the blocking action of particles, the structure could prevent water molecules from passing through to reduce the filtration loss. WJPP can improve the rheological property, filtration property, and friction property of the drilling fluid, which has certain application prospects.

Nanofluid Formulations Based on Two-Dimensional Nanoparticles, Their Performance, and Potential Application as Water-Based Drilling Fluids

“…Many attempts have been made to modulate the rheological, filtration, and heat transfer properties of DF formulations using nanoparticles as additives, viscosifiers, LCMs, or density regulators by exploiting nanotechnology. ,,,− The enhancement of their properties due to the inclusion of nanomaterials is attributed to their intrinsic properties at the nanoscale. In fact, nanomaterials formulation must ensure that at least one of their constituents possesses sizes up to 100 nm (1 nm = a billionth of a meter). − At this scale, nanomaterials would exhibit totally different physicochemical properties, including improved electronic properties such as thermal and electrical conductivities, mechanical properties, high specific surface area, magnetism, quantum effects, and antimicrobial activity, among others, if compared with their macroscopic counterpart. ,,,,− Most of the latter characteristic features are often absent in their macroscopic form, and they are closely related to their sizes and morphologies, which can vary from nanoparticles with well-defined geometry (spheres, triangles, squares, rhombuses, and plates), nanorods, nanotubes, nanosheets, etc. ,, Nanomaterials are classified as zero-dimensional such as nanoparticles, one-dimensional such as nanorods nanostructures, two-dimensional such as flat layer-like nanoparticles, and three-dimensional such as those nanostructures formed by the interaction of two or several nanoparticles. ,, Typical nanoparticles used so far in drilling mud formulations include but are not limited to carbonaceous nanostructures (carbon, buckminsterfullerene, carbon nanotubes, and graphene), − copper oxide (CuO), zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), yttrium oxide (Y 2 O 3 ), ferric oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ), silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ), alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), bismuth ferrite, nanocellulose, nanoclays, and molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ). ,,,,,− The fabrication of high-performance hybrid muds based on the association of two or more of the preceding nanoparticles has also been reported. ,…”

Hydrodynamic Analysis and Cake Erosion Properties of a Modified Water-Based Drilling Fluid by a Polyacrylamide/Silica Nanocomposite during Rotating-Disk Dynamic Filtration

“…With increasingly stringent environmental regulations, environmentally friendly and high-performance WBDMs are essential. Basic WBDM systems contain water as a base fluid, clays, and other chemicals. , Although WBDMs are preferred over OBDMs, however, there are several challenges such as drilling the shale layers which can conceivably cause wellbore instability due to clay–water interaction. , …”

Experimental Study on the Polymer/Graphene Oxide Composite as a Fluid Loss Agent for Water-Based Drilling Fluids

“…Various natural and synthetic polymers have been applied to improve the filtration property of drilling fluids, including xanthan gum, wild Jujube pit powder, tea polyphenols, starch, − cellulose, , synthetic polymers, ,− cationic copolyelectrolyte, etc. Natural polymers, as fluid loss agents, are always easy to degrade at high temperatures, which leads to their failure. , With the development of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are gradually being studied to reduce the fluid loss of drilling fluids.…”

“…3,13 Besides, as drilling is carried out in deep formations and downhole conditions are becoming increasingly complex, the fluid loss agent should also have the ability to maintain performance in high-temperature and high-salt environments. 14 Various natural and synthetic polymers have been applied to improve the filtration property of drilling fluids, including xanthan gum, 15 wild Jujube pit powder, 16 tea polyphenols, 17 starch, 18−20 cellulose, 21,22 synthetic polymers, 13,23−26 cationic copolyelectrolyte, 27 etc. Natural polymers, as fluid loss agents, are always easy to degrade at high temperatures, which leads to their failure.…”