Modified Corn Starch as an Environmentally Friendly Rheology Enhancer and Fluid Loss Reducer for Water-Based Drilling Mud
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Date
2022-01-07
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Society of Petroleum Engineers
Abstract
Drilling fluid rheology and fluid loss property are fundamental parameters that dictate the effectiveness and easiness of a drilling operation. Maintaining these parameters under high temperatures is technically challenging and has been an exciting research area for the drilling industry. Nonetheless, the use of drilling mud additives, particularly synthetic polymers threatening the ecological environments. Herein, modified corn starch (MCS) was synthesized, characterized, and investigated as an environmentally friendly rheology enhancer and filtration loss controlling agent for water-based mud (WBM) at high temperatures. The experimental results indicated that MCS exhibits better performance in improving rheological properties and fluid loss controlling ability for WBM than the commonly used mud additives. With the addition of an optimal concentration (0.3 wt%), MCS improved the rheology and fluid loss behaviour of WBM formulation at harsh ageing temperature (220 °C) practically 4 times and 1.7 times, respectively. The MCS was revealed to perform superbly over polyanionic cellulose (PAC) addition at all investigated temperatures. The better performance of the MCS was ascribed to the improved entanglements in the mud system due to the additional hydroxyl (OH) groups. Besides, the Herschel–Bulkley model was found to be a constitutive model that described the rheological properties of the investigated muds satisfactorily. Moreover, the MCS was found to exhibit acceptable biodegradability properties.
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Keywords
Modified corn starch; water-based mud; drilling mud additive; rheological property; filtration loss property, drilling fluid management & disposal, wellbore integrity, drilling fluid selection and formulation, drilling fluid chemistry, artificial intelligence, fluid loss control, strength, drilling fluids and materials, upstream oil & gas, water-based drilling fluid
Citation
Ricky, Emanuel, Mpelwa, Musa, Wang, Chao, Hamad, Bahati, and Xingguang Xu. "Modified Corn Starch as an Environmentally Friendly Rheology Enhancer and Fluid Loss Reducer for Water-Based Drilling Mud." SPE J. (2022;): doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/209195-PA