Abstract
Diesel oil has been the preferred base fluid for the formulation of oil-based drilling mud. Diesel oil has negative effects on the environment and there is a growing need for more environmentally sustainable alternatives that can be technically compared to diesel base oil. In recent times, the use of vegetable oils as drilling fluid base oil has been of interest. In this study, 1378 kg/m3 of palm kernel oil-based mud (PKOBM) and palm kernel oil biodiesel based mud (BDBM) were experimentally formulated. BDBM was synthesized by the transesterification of vegetable (palm kernel) oil. The performance of PKOBM and BDBM was then evaluated against conventional diesel oil-based mud (DOBM). The evaluation performed was based on the rheological, filtration and wall building properties, emulsion and thermal stabilities, and acute toxicity of the formulated drilling fluid systems. The results obtained from the study reveal that the mud systems (PKOBM and BDBM) show a typical Herschel-Bulkley (modified power-law) drilling mud rheological pattern at temperatures of 49°C, 66°C and 80°C. BDBM showed comparable rheological properties with better hole cleaning capacity as indicated by a lower flow index. For the filtrate loss test, BDBM exhibited a slightly lower filtrate loss compared to DOBM, whereas PKOBM had a higher fluid loss of 4.4 ml. For the filter cake and thermal stability test, there were no significant changes between DOBM and BDBM, whereas PKOBM had the least desirable performance. BDBM exhibited the most stable emulsion of 1274 volts breaking voltage and PKOBM, the least with 739 volts compared to 1169 volts breaking voltage of DOBM. This study concludes that BDBM could be used as an environmentally sustainable substitute for diesel oil-based mud (DOBM).
Highlights
The dwindling price of crude oil and its consequential effect on the economics of oil well drilling has necessitated the quest for more economical but technical and feasible local sources of material inputs
The results of physiochemical characterization, palm kernel oil and palm kernel (PKO) biodiesel used in the formulation of the drilling fluid systems shown in Table 5 are promising and acceptable base oil properties compared with the standard requirement as reported by Agwu et al (2015)
The flow curves of all the mud samples exhibit yield point and viscosity thinning that are consistent with drilling fluids
Summary
The dwindling price of crude oil and its consequential effect on the economics of oil well drilling has necessitated the quest for more economical but technical and feasible local sources of material inputs. Oil well drilling operations involve the use of a complex mixture called drilling fluid or mud (Jha, et al, 2014). Drilling fluids are classified by the base fluid that forms the continuous phase to which all other components of the drilling fluid are added; Water Based Mud (WBM), Oil Based Mud (OBM) and Pneumatic fluids (gas or gas-liquid mixture) (Khodja et al, 2017). The base fluid used in formulating the drilling fluid contributes greatly to its technical, environmental, and economic performance. WBM can further be classified according to the type of viscosifying material and other performance-enhancing agents used in its formulation, while
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