Performance of environmentally friendly silica nanoparticles-enhanced drilling mud from sugarcane bagasse

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) have great potential for a variety of applications in several industries including oil and gas industry. The addition of (NPs) to the drilling fluids may benefit the performance of drilling fluid properties. The production, use, and discharge of NPs have been raising concerns among the environmentalists as they have adverse effects on their ecology. Therefore, the oil and gas industry requires new ways to enhance the performance properties of water-based drilling fluids. In this study, a low cost, high performance and environmentally friendly water-based drilling mud was developed using sugarcane-bagasse silica nanoparticles (SBSNs). The SBSN was synthesized and characterized by a combination of analyses such as FTIR, TEM, SEM, zeta potential, and biodegradability studies. Furthermore, the effects of SBSN on performance of drilling fluid were analyzed. The results showed that SBSN-drilling mud exhibits better rheological properties, reduced fluid loss, high temperature stability and thinner filter cake. In addition, the shear thinning behavior of SBSN-drilling mud was fitted to Bingham–Plastic and Herschel–Bulkley models and the results showed that the Herschel–Bulkley model predicted the shear thinning relationship between the shear stress and shear-train rate of the SBSN drilling mud.