Emanuel Xwaymay RickyMusa MpelwaChao WangBahati Adnan HamadXingguang Xu2022-01-132022-01-132022-01-07Ricky, 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-PAhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/5844Drilling 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.enModified corn starch; water-based mud; drilling mud additive; rheological property; filtration loss propertydrilling 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 fluidJournal Article, Peer Reviewedhttps://doi.org/10.2118/209195-PA