Abstract

BETANCUR-MARQUEZ, STEFANÍA; ALZATE-ESPINOSA, GUILLERMO A.  and  CORTES-CORREA, FARID B.. OPTIMIZATION OF DRILLING FLUIDS USING FUNCTIONALIZED NANOPARTICLES: LOSS FILTRATION REDUCTION AND THICKNESS MUDCAKE. Bol. cienc. tierra [online]. 2014, n.35, pp.5-14. ISSN 0120-3630.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rbct.n35.43179.

Using drilling fluids (DF) in field operations is associated with several problems including formation damage, lost circulation and the formation of a mudcake. High permeability of the mudcake causes instability in wellbore, pipe sticking and swelling of clay formations in the case of Water Based Muds (WBM). In order to minimize some of these associated problems with the use of DF, a new fluid is proposed by inclusion of four different functionalized nanoparticles in a WBM at different concentrations. The functionalization of the nanoparticles was performed by incipient impregnation technique. Virgin and functionalized nanoparticles were characterized by nitrogen adsorption at 77 K (physisorption) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Bentonitic WBM were evaluated (with a constant density of 8.5 lbm/gal) and also modified with the addition of functionalized nanoparticles. Such fluids were tested by a rheological study, measurement of physicochemical properties (density and pH) and through the American Petroleum Institute (API) filter test following the standard API RP 13B -1. The original or base DF showed a non-Newtonian rheological behavior independent of the time, as well as the modified DF using nanoparticles. The density and the pH remained constant after the addition of nanoparticles. Silica nanoparticles functionalized with CMC were those which showed best results based on the fluid loss and reducing the thickness of the mudcake. The results obtained with silica nanoparticles funcionalizated with CMC showed reduction in fluid loss and in the thickness of the mudcake of 23 and 70%, respectively. This behavior is due to that silica nanoparticles do not generate adverse effects on the properties of the DF, such as density, viscosity and pH. Another important characteristic of the silica nanoparticles are the silanol groups (SiOH) which act as adsorption centers, allowing functionalization with CMC and viscosifying properties that favors the DF performance.

Keywords : Drilling fluid; nanoparticle; silica; mudcake; permeability; circulation loss.

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