Experimental Investigation of MWCNTs Decorated with ZnO Nanoparticles as a Novel Additive in Conventional Water-based Drilling Mud

Abstract

The effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with ZnONPs on the rheological and filtration properties of conventional water-based drilling muds (WBDM) was investigated. ZnONPs and MWCNTs were synthesized separately, then MWCNTs were decorated with ZnONPs by chemical vapor deposition method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Synthesized and characterized ZnONPs/MWCNTs were added to conventional WBDM at a rate of 0.001% to 0.01%, and then rheological and filtration loss analyses were performed according to American Petroleum Institute standards. With the addition of ZnONPs/MWCNTs to the conventional WBDM, the values of plastic viscosity, apparent viscosity, yield point, cake thickness, 10 s and 10 min values increased by 42.8%, 31.6%, 28%, 22%, 25%, and 38.9%, respectively, while the value of filtration loss decreased by 13.8%. When all results were examined, the best addition rate was 0.01%. The results obtained show that ZnONPs/MWCNTs improved the rheological and the filtration loss properties of the drilling mud, proving that ZnONPs/MWCNTs can be used as additives in conventional WBDM.