Cement Slurry Design for High-Pressure, High-Temperature Wellbores Using Polymer Nanocomposite: A Laboratory Scale Study Based on the Compressive Strength and Fluid Loss

Abstract

For the successful cementing operation of petroleum wells, the design of cement slurry plays a crucial role. Cement slurry must address the requirements of higher compressive strength; lower fluid loss; durability; and high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) challenges. A large number of chemical additives in cement slurry affects the required rheological properties; therefore, the development of multifunctional additives is desirable. In the present study, this problem has been addressed with the use of a single polymeric nanocomposite additive to address multiple requirements. A novel tetrapolymer nanocomposite (TPN) was synthesized in the laboratory by in situ polymerization in the presence of zinc oxide nanoparticles. Four monomers, namely acrylamide, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, vinyl phosphonic acid, and N-[3-(dimethylamino)­propyl] methacrylamide, were selected for the in situ polymerization reaction. The synthesized product was characterized using 1H NMR, FTIR, and TGA techniques. Laboratory-synthesized TPN was mixed in varying concentrations in the cement slurry as an additive. The performance of the enhanced cement slurry was then evaluated by performing compressive strength analysis and a filtration test using an ultrasonic cement analyzer and an HPHT filter press, respectively. These experimental analyses show that the addition of the TPN improved the compressive strength of the cement slurry and, at the same time, abbreviated the fluid loss, which is desired for efficient cementing operation. With the addition of 1.0% by weight of cement (BWOC) of TPN, the compressive strength increased by ∼136% compared with base cement. Additionally, this small dosage also reduced HPHT fluid loss by ∼67%. This experimental investigation shows that the novel TPN additive is capable of improving the efficacy of oil-well cement slurry at high-temperature conditions without compromising on thickening time because the additive also improved the waiting-on-cement time for HPHT conditions.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle and its Application in Chemical Enhanced oil Recovery

“…The FTIR confirms the presence of functional groups in the synthesized MSN. An FTIR spectrometer from PerkinElmer USA recorded the FT‐IR spectra of the produced MSN [37,38] . Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) testing was performed on the sample utilizing a Pike Miracle single‐reflection horizontal ATR attachment and a ZnSe A.T.R.…”

Properties and Performance of Oil Well Slurry and Cement Sheath Incorporating Nano Silica: A Review

“…Nanomaterials are substances that have been reduced in size to a range of 1–100 nm or possess at least one dimension within this nanoscale range in a three-dimensional space . The introduction of nanotechnology and the use of nanomaterials in oil well cement slurry preparation led to considerable improvement in the cement slurry and cement matrix properties because of the small size, and the unique characteristics possessed by nanoparticles comprise greater surface area per unit volume. − A comparison of surface area to volume ratio attributed to the different radius size of spherical particles are presented by Amanullah and Al-Tahini …”

Development and Gelation Mechanism of Ultra-High-Temperature-Resistant Polymer Gel

“…These formulations also integrate suitable additives, such as gel breakers and weighting agents, to meet specific performance criteria. Thickeners, often water-soluble polymers, play a crucial role by augmenting the viscosity and energy transfer capability of the base fluid due to their intricate interlinked structure [ 23 ]. Current research efforts concerning thickeners tailored for ultra-high-temperature-resistant gels predominantly revolve around acrylamide polymers [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”