Development of Modified Rhizophora spp. Tannin Biopolymer Additive in Drilling Fluid System for High Temperature Well Applications

Abstract

The main objective of the current work is to investigate the performance of Rhizophora spp. tannin-lignosulfonate (RTLS) as a deflocculant in water-based drilling fluid (WBDF). Rhizophora spp. tannin (RT) was extracted from the barks, waste of conventional charcoal production. RTLS was synthesized and characterized by using Fourie transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) over a wide range of wavelength from 400 to 4000 cm−1 to determine the main functional group, and using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with the temperature range from 25 to 600°C to evaluate the thermal properties. Rheological properties of WBDF with the addition of RTLS as deflocculant were analyzed at room temperature condition and compared with industrial chrome-based deflocculant. The TG analysis revealed that RTLS has good thermal stability because the degradation temperature was observed at approxmately 280°C. The rheological properties demonstrated the yield point and the gel strength were reduced by addition of RTLS that indicated an improvement of the rheological performance. However, the trends for plastic viscosity showed a fluctuation with increasing in RTLS concentration because of the addition of suspended solid component in WBDF.

Evaluation of a naturally derived tannin extracts biopolymer additive in drilling muds for high-temperature well applications

“…(Arunprabu and Ramanathan 2016). Extraction with hot water is more economical compared to extraction with methanol, as confirmed in several recent investigations (Ghazali et al 2018a;Vigneswaran et al 2018;Basyuni et al 2018). Thus, hot water was selected for the extractions of the RMTE deflocculant because it is safer, less harmful and cost effective.…”

“…Tables 3 and 4 show the per cent yields of CTE and HTE extracted with hot water, respectively. Previous researches revealed that tannin extracts from polymers are within the range of 60-80% for CTE and less than 40% for HTE (Ghazali et al 2018a;Arunprabu and Ramanathan 2016).…”

“…Through their colloidal nature, they skewed the size distribution of the particles of higher values. This action increases the thinning ability of the deflocculants (Ghazali et al 2018a). Figure 7a, b shows the effect of MDT and RMTE deflocculants on the YPs of WBMs, respectively.…”

“…Reports from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) revealed that Bakau minyak barks contain significant amounts of tannins, which is, however, subject to the method of extraction and type of solvents used (Sukardjo 1987). Rhizophora mucronata and Rhizophora mangle are common representatives of the Rhizophora family (Basyuni et al 2018;Ghazali et al 2018a, b, Vigneswaran et al 2018Maricusa et al 2018). Locally derived tannin-based Rhizophora mucronata is abundant in soft tissues form, such as leaves, needles and barks wastes (Vigneswaran et al 2018).…”

“…Modified Desco Tannin deflocculants are mostly imported and treated with chemicals before their applications, and these increase their operating cost, which limits their general application for drilling fluids. Thus, they are less environmentally friendly compared with locally derived deflocculant such as Rhizophora mucronata species (Ghazali et al 2018a;Vigneswaran et al 2018;Basyuni et al 2018). With increasing strict environmental regulations prohibiting the use of chemicals that have adverse effects on the environment, the development of tannin-based deflocculant from naturally derived local species will be a viable option for substituting commercial Desco tannin.…”