Experimental investigation of ionic liquid as an additive in enhancing the rheological and filtration properties of water-based drilling fluid

Abstract

The design of the drilling fluid is unquestionably important for the overall optimization of the drilling operation. The type of components utilized for the drilling fluid construction, as well as their proportions, contribute to the necessary rheological and filtration loss attributes. The objective of this study is to determine how the properties of the water-based drilling fluid are affected by addition of specific concentrations of ionic liquid (1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium-Chloride). Ionic liquids have a favorable effect on the rheology of the drilling fluid while diminishing the filtrate loss values, in addition to limiting clay swelling at particular concentrations. At 0.4% of IL the filtration loss was observed to be the least.