Enhancement of rheological properties and cutting carrying capacity of water based drilling fluid using Al2O3 nanoparticles

Abstract

Drilling mud is a necessary component of drilling operations. There have been notable attempts to enhance the filtration and rheological properties and increase the cutting carrying capacity of water-based mud (WBM) using nanoparticles (NPs). This study investigates how varying Al2O3 concentrations affect the rheological properties and cutting carrying capacity of drilling fluids. In this study, different drilling muds were produced using bentonite (2.8g) without nanoparticle, 50% bentonite (1.4g) and 50% Al2O3(1.4) and 0% bentonite(0g) and 100% Al2O3 (2.8g). Testing and comparisons were done on the formed mud samples' physiochemical properties, rheology, filtration properties, and cutting carry index (CCI). The Power Law Model was used to define the rheological behavior of the manufactured mud samples, and results showed that all the mud samples were pseudoplastic fluids and remain a preference for drilling fluids because their flow behavior index (n) was less than 1. It was observed that the addition of Al2O3 is directly proportional to the plastic viscosity, apparent viscosity and yield point and inversely proportional to the gel strength of the drilling fluid. The study also shows that the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticle influences the cutting carrying index CCI as the calculated cutting carrying index gives a high cutting carrying index CCI which means that the hole cleaning potential of the drilling mud is good. The study shows that Al2O3 nanoparticles are feasible for use in drilling fluid formulation.