SPE 100903

Studies on Less Expansive Environmentally Safe Polymers for Development of

Water-Based Drilling Fluids
V.P. Sharma and V. Mahto, Indian School of Mines

Copyright 2006, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2006 SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference
and Exhibition held in Adelaide, Australia, 1113 September 2006.
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Abstract
Recently there has been lot of interest and research activity
started in the development of new products and combinations
for the development of ecofriendly drilling fluids using
chemicals, which are less toxic and biodegradable materials.
In this work, an attempt has been made to develop water based
drilling fluids using Indian bentonite clays and new
ecofriendly polymers, which has been found to be cheaper
than the conventional polymers used in oil well industry. The
tamarind gum and tragacanth gum, which are not used in
water based drilling fluids, had been found suitable. This has
been confirmed by doing experiments using standard
procedure adopted by oil industry. The temperature stability of
drilling fluid additives was studied using Hot Air Rolling
Oven and Aging Cells. The formation damage was carried out
using oil field core samples on Ruska liquid permeameter. The
laboratory investigation furnishes that combinations of these
polymers and bentonite have favorable rheogical properties
with less formation damage.
Keywords: Bentonite, rheology, formation damage, polymer,
gel strength, tamarind gum
Introduction
The tamarind-gum is a natural polysaccharide extracted from
tamarind seeds. It is a low cost viscosity modifier and may be
used in drilling fluid formulation. It has almost same the
viscosity as guar gum at the same concentration in water; and
it is seven times cheaper than guar gum1. Chemically, it is a
high molecular weight branched polysaccharide consisting of a
cellulose-like backbone that carries xylose and galactoxylose
substituents.
The tragacanth gum is naturally occurring gum
obtained from Astragalus gummifier. It looks milky white to
brown in colour. It is around two to three times cheaper than

the gaur gum. It swells with water and an aqueous solution of

gum tragacanth has extremely high viscosity at relatively low
concentration. Chemically it is a mixture of polysaccharides
containing calcium, magnesium and potassium. After acid
hydrolysis the major sugars produced are D-galactouronic
acid, D-galactose, L-fructose, D-xylose, L-arbinose and Lrhamnose2
The polyanionic cellulose (PAC) is used as a fluid loss
reducer for fresh water and salt-water muds. But, it also acts as
viscosifier in these systems. It is not subjected to bacterial
degradation. The temperature stability of PAC is 1490C3 and is
environmentally benign
The clay concentration in the water based drilling
fluid system should be maintained as minimum as possible to
minimize sticking tendency and to reduce torque and drag4. As
bentonite clay is unable to provide satisfactory rheological
properties at low concentration, the polymers should be added
to achieve the desired result required for optimum
performance in oil well drilling. The water based drilling fluid
filtrate usually impairs the formation permeability5. The
colloidal solids lost into the formation causing a plugging
effect. The filtrate generated by water based drilling fluids is
likely to cause physical and chemical reaction within insitu
reservoir fluid and rock and induce severe damage. Hence
rheological properties control as well as control of formation
damage is essential in the development of drilling fluids.
Experimental
Materials
Three bentonite clay samples were obtained from the Kutch
region, Gujarat, India. The tamarind gum was procured from
Saiguru Food Industries Ltd, Mumbai, tragacanth from
Chemical Drug House, Delhi, India, high viscosity
polyanionic cellulose was obtained from an oil field operation
and the sandstone cores used for formation damage study were
collected from Western Indian oil producing fields.
Experimental Procedures. The bentonite clay samples
were dried by exposure to the sun for a few days. They were
then crushed and screened through 200-mesh size sieve (0.074
mm). The samples were dried in an air oven at 100 2 0C.
Initially, Characterization of bentonite clay samples
were done and three bentonite clays were selected for drilling
fluid development, The swelling index6, yield of clay and
cation exchange capacity7 of the clays were determined.
Earlier these clay were studied using combinations of tamarind
gum, tragacanth gum and polyanionic cellulose, which were

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SPE 100903

reported8-9. Later on a set of experiments were done using

tamarind gum of different quality and polyanionic cellulose
and tragacanth gum and polyanionic cellulose. Six most
favourable mud systems were prepared from these three
different clay suspensions, tragacanth gum and tamarind gum.
These drilling fluid combinations were hot rolled in a roller
oven for 16 hours to measure temperature stability. The muds
were filtered through Whatman No. 50 filter paper using API
fluid loss apparatus. And then the filtrate obtained was used

for formation damage studies. The formation damage studies

were based on permeability reduction in a sand stone oil field
core and experimental work was conducted using a Ruska
Liquid Permeameter.The procedure adopted was to determine
the permeability of filtrate and distilled water in core samples.
Results and Discussions
The swelling index, yield of clay and cation exchange capacity
of the clays are listed in Table 1.

Table 1 Physico-chemical properties of bentonite clay samples

________________________________________________________________________
Sample No.
Cation Exchange Capacity
Yield of Clay
Swelling Index
(milli eq./100g of clay)
(bbls/ton clay)
___________________________________________________________________
A1
81.66
49.34
3.5
A2
80.0
59.68
3.9
A3
83.33
56.64
3.7
________________________________________________________________________
Table 2 summarizes the rheological properties 3% (w/v) bentonite concentrations in water with these clays. The rheological properties
of bentonite at 3% conc. require further adjustment by adding in to it.
Table 2 Rheological properties of 3 % bentonite clay-water suspension
_____________________________________________________________________
Sample Apparent
Plastic
Yield Point
Gelin
Gel 10
Viscosity
Viscosity
(cp)
(cp)
(lb/100ft2)
(lb/100ft2) (lb/100ft2)
__________________________________________________________________
A1
2
1
2
1
2
A2
2.5
1
3
1
2
A3
2
1
2
1
2
_____________________________________________________________________
Table 3-4 summarizes the three favorable drilling fluid system and their compositions are as follow:
Mud M1: 3% Bentonite (A111), 0.1% PAC and 0.2% Tamarind gum
Mud M2: 3% Bentonite (B222), 0.1%PAC and 0.2%Tamarind gum
Mud M3: 3% Bentonite (C333), 0.1%PAC and 0.2% Tamarind gum.
Mud M4: 3% Bentonite (A111), 0.2% PAC and 0.3% Tragacanth gum
Mud M5: 3% Bentonite (B222), 0.2% PAC and 0.3% Tragacanth gum &
Mud M6: 3% Bentonite (C333), 0.2% PAC and 0.3% Tragacanth gum
Table 3 Properties of Favorable drilling Fluids at ambient temperature

_____________________________________________________________________
Sample Apparent
Viscosity
(cp)

Plastic
Viscosity
(cp)

Gel 10

Yield Point

Gelin

(lb/100ft2)

(lb/100ft2) (lb/100ft2)

_____________________________________________________________________
M1
25
14
22
6
12
M2
26
10
26
8
16
M3
24
12
22
6
14
M4
23
12
22
6
30
M5
24
14
20
6
30
M6
22.5
13
19
6
30
_____________________________________________________________________

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API Filter
Loss
(ml)
11
10.5
11
7
8
7

SPE 100903

The Mud M1, Mud M2 and Mud M3 were hot rolled for 16 hours at 75oC. The rheological properties and API filter loss before and
after hot rolling of the drilling fluid combinations are compared and shown in Table 3. After hot rolling rheological properties
increases slightly. This may be due to flocculation of clay with temperature. Also it was found that these drilling fluid systems were
stable at 75oC.
Table 4 Properties of Favorable drilling Fluids after hot rolling for 16 hours at 75oC

_____________________________________________________________________
Sample Apparent
Viscosity
(cp)

Plastic
Viscosity
(cp)

Yield Point

Gelin

(lb/100ft2)

(lb/100ft2) (lb/100ft2)

Gel 10

_____________________________________________________________________
M1
20.5
11
21
6
12
M2
23
12
22
8
16
M3
21.5
10
23
7
14

API Filter
Loss
(ml)
12
12
12

_____________________________________________________________________
The Mud M4, Mud M5 and Mud M6 were also tested in hot roller oven for 16 hours at 90oC. The rheological properties and API
filter loss before and after hot rolling of each drilling fluid combination are compared and is also favorable. Thus these drilling fluid
systems were stable at 90oC.
Table 5 Properties of Favorable drilling Fluids after hot rolling for 16 hours at 90oC

_____________________________________________________________________
Sample Apparent
Viscosity
(cp)

Plastic
Viscosity
(cp)

Yield Point

Gelin

(lb/100ft2)

(lb/100ft2) (lb/100ft2)

Gel 10

_____________________________________________________________________
M4
23
12
22
6
12
M5
22
11
22
10
18
M6
22
11
22
7
14

API Filter
Loss
(ml)
7
8.5
9

_____________________________________________________________________
From Table 5, Observations indicated that the permeability to mud filtrate was less than that of permeability to distilled water. This
is due to adsorption of polymers on silica surfaces and on the edge of clay lattice10 and migration of fine clay particles from filtrate
into the formation.11-12
Table 6. Measurement of Permeability of Distilled Water and Mud Filtrates on core samples

______________________________________________________________________________
Mud Filtrates

Permeability with
Permeability with
Distilled Water (md)
Mud Filtrate, (md)
__________________________________________________________________________
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6

pH

8.5
8.6
8.5
8.3
8.6
8.5

234.85
82.78
193.4
29.57
211.3
208.00

180.66
62.3
146.44
21.40
152.50
147.30

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SPE 100903

Formation damage caused by these formulations of drilling

fluids is less, probably because of less adsorption of polymer
on the core due to less polymer concentration. The low pH
may be also the contributing factor of less formation damage.
At low pH, dissolution of silica and subsequently
releasing of fines inside the formation is less.
Conclusions
Tamarind gum and tragacanth gum drilling fluids are cheaper
than conventional drilling fluids.
Combinations of tamarind gum, PAC and bentonite clay
produce favorable rheological properties and optimum fluid
loss at very low concentrations.
The tragacanth gum acts as a good viscosifier and fluid
loss control agent in water based drilling fluids
The developed tamarind drilling fluid systems are stable up
to 75oC and tragacanth drilling fluid systems are stable up to
75oC .
On comparision M1, M2 and M3 systems are having less
effect on formation damage as compared to other systems.
Acknowledgement
The Authors thank Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research, New Delhi, India for providing financial assistance
for this work.

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