Evaluation of drilling muds enhanced with modified starch for HPHT well applications

Abstract

The use of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in oil and gas well drilling operations has improved the filtration loss and mud cake properties of drilling muds. The introduction of starch has also reduced, for example, the viscosity, fluid loss, and mud cake properties of the drilling fluids. However, normal starch has some drawbacks such as low shear stress resistance, thermal decomposition, high retrogradation, and syneresis. Hence, starch modification, achieved through acetylation and carboxymethylation, has been introduced to overcome these limitations. In this study, modified starches, from cassava and maize, were used to enhance the properties of water-based muds under high-pressure high temperature (HPHT) conditions, and their performances were compared with that of the CMC. The mud samples added with acetylated cassava or maize starch exhibited the smallest filtrate volumes and filtrate losses within the American Petroleum Institute specification. Therefore, these modified starch-added muds could replace CMC as fluid loss agents since, unlike it, they can withstand HPHT conditions.

An experimental investigation into the rheological behavior and filtration loss properties of water-based drilling fluid enhanced with a polyethyleneimine-grafted graphene oxide nanocomposite

“…PV is a measure of ow resistance of drilling uids, which is inuenced by the solid content and electrochemical forces between the reactive particles. 44,45 YP represents the initial stress required to initiate the ow of non-Newtonian uids and indicates the drilling uid's effectiveness in cleaning the borehole. 46 YP is inuenced by both the volume and electrochemical attractive forces among solid particles added to the drilling uid.…”

Enhancing drilling mud performance through CMITS-modified formulations: rheological insights and performance optimization

“…In addition, when the carboxymethyl functional group is added to starch, its bacterial resistance also increases. [15][16][17] Several researchers have emphasized the signicance of modied starches, [18][19][20][21][22] cellulose derivatives, 7,23,24 and native biomaterials 25,26 for enhancing the rheological properties of mud. Nevertheless, there remains a necessity to enhance the temperature and salt resistance characteristics of these muds, particularly for their application in deep well drilling.…”

Computational Analysis on the Selection of High Efficient Biodegradable-PolymerBased Nanofluids for Drilling Mud

“…Hamad et al employed amphoteric polymer to improve the rheological properties and minimize the fluid loss of water-based drilling muds at high temperature [14]. Sulaimon et al improved drilling muds by adding starch for high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) [15].…”