Evaluation of fibrilar Nanocelulose as rheologic modifier on water based drillings fluids (WBMs) for shale of Argentina

YURANY A.VILLADA-VILLADA; MARÍA LAURA OLIVARES; M. SOLEDAD PERESIN; DIANA ESTENOZ; NATALIA CASIS

Barcelona

Congreso; WCCE 2017 (World Congress of Chemical Engineering); 2017

WCCE (World Congress of Chemical Engineering)

Drilling fluids play an important role in oil and gas drilling operations, such as cleaning the well, suspending and carrying out cuttings, reducing friction between formation and drilling tools, stabilizing the well, cooling and lubricating tools, promoting hydraulic power, and being compatible with logging tools. Sucessful drilling operations are highly dependent on the selection of the fluids with desirable properties, wich are determinated by their rheological and fluid filtration properties to a large extend [1]. Depending of the composition, fluids are classified in three groups, water-based muds fluids (WBMs), oil-based muds (OBMs), and synthetic base muds (SDF). The WBMs contain additives that act as rheological modifiers and controllers of the loss of fluid to the formation. Currently, natural and synthetic polymers, such as guar gum, xanthan gum (XGD), polyanionic cellulose (PAC), polyacrylamide, polyacrylates, among others, have been used as rheological modifiers in WBMs.The use of nanoparticles of natural origin as rheological modifiers is an area of great interest due to its low cost and biodegradability characteristic. In this sense, the use of fibrillary nanocellulose (CNF) is a promising alternative. CNF can be obtained from different resources, such as wood, plants, marine animals, algae and bacteria, following different methods of preparation, for example enzymatic hydrolysis, mechanical disintegration, or oxidation.In this work the effect of the CNF composition in replacing of the XGD on the rheological behavior and the filtering properties of WBMs is analyzed. The final objective is to evaluate its potential use for shale of Argentina. The rheometric characterization of the fluids is complemented with the structural analysis of fluids and the assessment of filtering characteristics. Sisko model and statistical analysis are employed to theoretically describe the rheological behavior of the fluids as a function of the polymer composition, that allow obtaining parameters of interest.