Espina Corona Gum (ECG) as a polymeric additive of water-based drilling fluids (WBMs)

VILLADA, YURANY; MARÍA EUGENIA TAVERNA; SEBASTIÁN GILETTA; CASIS, NATALIA; DIANA ESTENOZ

Otro; VIII Summer School in Colombia: the role of conventional and non-conventional resources in energy transition; 2021

Water-based drilling fluids (WBMs) perform important roles in oil and gas rotary drilling operations. WBMs are usually designed as shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluids, which exhibithigh viscosity at low shear rates to suspend or transport drill cuttings to surface, and low viscosity at high shear rates to enable easy pumping into the wellbore (Balding et al., 2020). Inrecent years, several studies have been reported on the design of WBMs with low toxicity level, and low cost. In this context, natural and synthetic polymers have achieved interest in thedrilling process. In particular, polysaccharides such as guar gum (GG) is widely used as viscosity enhancer additive in the oil industry. However, most of GG consumed in South America isimported from India, Pakistan, United States, Australia, South Africa, and Sudan. Espina corona gum (ECG) is a polysaccharide extracted from the seeds of Gleditsia amorphoides trees thatgrow in South American countries. Structurally, ECG is similar to GG, which has a mannose/galactose ratio of 2 (Perduca et al., 2013). Due to their properties, the ECG has been usedmainly in the food industry as a viscosifier, gelling agent, and stabilizer. Despite of its wide application in the food area, its use in WBMs has not yet been studied.