Laponite: a promising nanomaterial to formulate high-performance water-based drilling fluids

Abstract

High-performance water-based drilling fluids (HPWBFs) are essential to wellbore stability in shale gas exploration and development. Laponite is a synthetic hectorite clay composed of disk-shaped nanoparticles. This paper analyzed the application potential of laponite in HPWBFs by evaluating its shale inhibition, plugging and lubrication performances. Shale inhibition performance was studied by linear swelling test and shale recovery test. Plugging performance was analyzed by nitrogen adsorption experiment and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. Extreme pressure lubricity test was used to evaluate the lubrication property. Experimental results show that laponite has good shale inhibition property, which is better than commonly used shale inhibitors, such as polyamine and KCl. Laponite can effectively plug shale pores. It considerably decreases the surface area and pore volume of shale, and SEM results show that it can reduce the porosity of shale and form a seamless nanofilm. Laponite is beneficial to increase lubricating property of drilling fluid by enhancing the drill pipes/wellbore interface smoothness and isolating the direct contact between wellbore and drill string. Besides, laponite can reduce the fluid loss volume. According to mechanism analysis, the good performance of laponite nanoparticles is mainly attributed to the disk-like nanostructure and the charged surfaces.

Nanofluid Formulations Based on Two-Dimensional Nanoparticles, Their Performance, and Potential Application as Water-Based Drilling Fluids

“… 89 Likewise, previous studies reported that the Bingham plastic model fits in a very good manner the experimental data of WBDFs using graphene nanoparticles and Laponite 2D layered nanoparticles as additives. 71 , 90 …”

Enantioselective Michael addition of aldehydes to maleimides catalysed by surface-adsorbed natural amino acids

“…[66][67][68][69] Recently, a surfaceimproved asymmetric reaction was developed using in situ adsorbed L-proline (L-Pro) over LAPONITE® (Lap), 70 a synthetic layered magnesium silicate cation-exchanger clay. 71 The Michael addition of aldehydes to β-nitrostyrene occurred with exceptionally increased enantioselectivities compared to the use of L-Pro. Detailed studies indicated that the reaction takes place on the surface of the hybrid material; moreover, the performance of the primary amino acids (L-valine (L-Val), L-Phe, L-Trp) was also improved in the presence of Lap, which interestingly, provided the opposite enantiomer in excess compared to L-Pro.…”

An Experiment-Based Study of Formation Damage Using a Microetching Model Displacement Method

“…Therefore, with the gradual advancement of exploration and the development of low-porosity and low-permeability sandstone reservoirs, the study of the microscopic mechanism of formation damage by drilling fluid has received increasing attention in recent years. At present, the experimental methods for studying the damage to rocks caused by drilling fluid at the microscopic scale include thin-section observations [13,14], scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations [15,16], X-ray diffraction (XRD) [17], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging [18], CT scanning [19], etc. The main idea of these methods is similar: first, obtaining rock samples (from drilling) before drilling fluid damage and rock samples (from core flooding experiments) after drilling fluid damage and then scanning or observing the rock samples before and after drilling fluid damage at the microscopic scale, and comparing the differences between them to determine the characteristics of formation damage.…”

“…The main idea of these methods is similar: first, obtaining rock samples (from drilling) before drilling fluid damage and rock samples (from core flooding experiments) after drilling fluid damage and then scanning or observing the rock samples before and after drilling fluid damage at the microscopic scale, and comparing the differences between them to determine the characteristics of formation damage. Among these methods, the advantage of both the thin-section and SEM observation methods is that high-resolution microscopic images can be obtained, which can characterize the formation damage caused by the solid particles from drilling fluid blocking the pores [13][14][15][16]. The advantage of the XRD method is that the influence of the composition and content of the solid particles in drilling fluid on the formation damage can be quantitatively analyzed [17].…”

“…The advantage of the NMR imaging and CT scanning methods is that the damage of core samples by drilling fluid can be observed from a three-dimensional scale, but the resolution of the images is relatively low, such that the characterization of the microscopic details is insufficient [18][19][20]. In addition, some studies have shown that drilling fluids with different liquid components (oil and water) undergo changes in viscosity, dynamic shearing force, static shearing force, wettability, and other properties under formation temperature and pressure conditions, which At present, the experimental methods for studying the damage to rocks caused by drilling fluid at the microscopic scale include thin-section observations [13,14], scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations [15,16], X-ray diffraction (XRD) [17], nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging [18], CT scanning [19], etc. The main idea of these methods is similar: first, obtaining rock samples (from drilling) before drilling fluid damage and rock samples (from core flooding experiments) after drilling fluid damage and then scanning or observing the rock samples before and after drilling fluid damage at the microscopic scale, and comparing the differences between them to determine the characteristics of formation damage.…”