Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
8125307 Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 2018 24 Pages PDF
Abstract
In order to solve wellbore instability problems in the drilling process, high-performance shale stabilizers in water-based drilling fluids are essential. In this paper, a novel shale stabilizer based on polyethylene glycol grafted nano-silica composite (PEG-NS) was successfully synthesized. Conventional techniques were used to characterize PEG-NS including Flourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), particle size distribution (PSD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that the structure of PEG-NS was in agreement with the design objective. The particle size of PEG-NS ranged from 110 to 434 nm, and PEG-NS had good thermal stability. Pressure transmission test, pore structure characterization of shale, rolling recovery test were applied to evaluate the comprehensive performance of PEG-NS as a novel shale stabilizer. The experimental data indicated that PEG-NS could effectively retard the pore pressure transmission and reduce the permeability of shale sample. PEG-NS could adsorb onto the shale surface and a dense plugging film could finally coat on it. Moreover, PEG-NS also exhibited better inhibition performance compared with that of potassium chloride (KCl) and polymeric alcohol (JHC) at the same concentration. Hence, PEG-NS could be a good shale stabilizer in water-based drilling fluids for drilling reactive shale formations.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Economic Geology
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