ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE OF WATER BASED MUD FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE HIGH PRESSURE (HTHP) APPLICATIONS USING BIO-BASED POLYMER AND NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

The increased need for energy and petroleum products has led to the exploration of deep and ultradeep wells such as geothermal and harsh formation. Oil-Based Muds (OBM) fluid has the best qualities because of its stability but its environmental challenge is of great concern. In many parts of the world, environmental rules continue to ban the use of oil-based muds, although very effective yet polluting and expensive. Water-Based Muds Fluids (WBMFs) which are environmentally friendly and inexpensive to produce are considered as alternatives, but under the high temperature and high-pressure conditions, their stability is compromised. Addition of biopolymer to WBMFs was consider since it is ecologically acceptable, but at elevated temperature the biopolymer is break down and reduces the drilling fluid's viscosity, suspension, and fluid loss capacity. As a result, there is need to formulate of high-performance water-based drilling fluids that are stable at high temperatures. This research paper investigated the thermal stability of Polyethylene-Glycol (PEG) in the formulated drilling fluid with biopolymers (Potato Peel powder, PPP) suspended in bentonitewater and buffered with eggshell nanoparticles (ESNP). The resultant samples were evaluated at normal temperature 25oC and high temperature150oC, and it was discovered that the addition of ESNP and PEG improved the drilling fluids' rheological behavior by 70.8% and 46.2%, respectively. Also, the filtration properties of the various samples were also analyzed at different concentrations and varying temperatures from 40oC to 220oC. These additives ESNP and PEG greatly slowed down the degradation of the biopolymer formulated mud up to 220 °C. This newly formulated fluid system, is stable at high temperatures, can meet the demands of high-temperature formation during drilling.