International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ichmt

Application of amorphous silica nanoparticles in improving the rheological T

properties, filtration and shale stability of glycol-based drilling fluids
⁎
Mostafa Keshavarz Moravejia, , Ahmadreza Ghaffarkhahb, Farough Aginc, Mohsen Talebkeikhahc,
Amirhosein Jahanshahid, Alireza Kalantard, Saman Fazel Amirhosseinid, Mohsen Karimifarde,
⁎
Seyed Iman Mortazavipourf, Ali Akbari Sehatb, Mohammad Arjmandb,
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), 424 Hafez Avenue, Tehran 15875-4413, Iran
b
School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada V1V 1V7
c
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), 424 Hafez Avenue, Tehran 15875-4413, Iran
d
School of Mining Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 14174-66191, Iran
e
Ahwaz Faculty of Petroleum, Petroleum University of Technology, Imam Ali Square, Ahwaz, Khuzestan 61991-71183, Iran
f
Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI), West Blvd., Near Azadi Sports Complex., Tehran 14857-33111, Iran

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The drilling process in shale formations and well stability in the presence of shale are among the most chal-
Shale stability lenging issues in the drilling industry. Routinely, oil-based drilling fluids are used for drilling troublesome shale
Thermal stability formations. However, oil-based drilling muds have a number of significant disadvantages, including very high
Amorphous nano-silica cost, causing severe damage to the environment, and interfering with the well-logging process. To address this
Glycol drilling fluid
issue, a sustainable glycol-based drilling fluid is designed in this study to substitute the routinely used oil-based
Rheology
drilling fluids. In the first step, amorphous silica nanoparticles with different particle sizes (12, 22, and 54 nm)
are prepared from rice husks. The prepared nanoparticles are then dispersed in water and added to the glycol-
based mud as a liquid-based additive. Finally, the effect of silica nanoparticles on rheological properties, fil-
tration, and shale stability of glycol drilling fluid is studied. The results show that the use of silica nanoparticles
improves the rheological properties of glycol drilling fluid. This improvement is a function of the amount and
size of nanoparticles. Adding silica nanoparticles also decreases fluid loss and increases the thermal stability of
the drilling fluid. Moreover, silica nanoparticles can effectively plug nanoscale pores of Gurpi shale resulting in
increasing the shale cutting recovery and decreasing the penetration rate of glycol drilling fluid into the Gurpi
shale samples.

1. Introduction
Wellbore instability is one of the most critical issues which leads to
unnecessary delays in the drilling process and increases in drilling costs
[1–3]. Many problems during the drilling process are associated with
wellbore instability, such as bit balling, enlargement of the borehole
section, hole cleaning problems, and cementing issues [4–14]. Oil-
based drilling fluids alleviate the challenges of drilling in shale for-
mations, due to their low filtration, thermal stability, and higher lu-
bricity during horizontal drilling. However, environmental restrictions
for dumping the oil-based drilling fluid waste, interference of oil-based
drilling fluids with the well-logging process, and their high-cost sig-
nificantly limit the use of oil-based drilling fluids, especially in offshore
drilling [15–17]. Hence, the use of water-based drilling fluids in shale
formations has received a great deal of attention in the drilling industry
recently [18–22]. However, the water invasion of water-based drilling
fluids into shale formations results in clay swelling and fluid loss. As a
result, in recent years, immense attention has been focused on devel-
oping novel and sustainable water-based muds that cause minimum
clay swelling during the drilling of shale formations. Such a sustainable
water-based drilling fluid can be produced by increasing the filtrate
viscosity, reducing the chemical potential gradient between the drilling
fluid and the water content of the shale formation, and adding nano-
scale additives to drilling fluids [10,23,24].
In overbalanced drilling, since the pressure of the drilling fluid is
higher than the pressure of the fluids that naturally exist in the shale
formation, the drilling fluid filtrates penetrate the shale formation.
According to Darcy's Law, increasing the viscosity of the drilling fluid

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: moraveji@aut.ac.ir (M. Keshavarz Moraveji), mohammad.arjmand@ubc.ca (M. Arjmand).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2020.104625

0735-1933/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al.
filtrate reduces the penetration rate of fluid into the shale formation
and, as a result, the stability of the shale formation increases. Van Oort
[10] showed that using low molecular weight viscosifiers, such as sugar
decreased the rate of drilling fluid invasion significantly, while Villada
et al. [25] used xanthan gum and polyanionic cellulose in order to
improve the rheological properties of drilling fluid and increase the
stability of shale formations. In another study, Xu et al. [26] used
polymer latex SDNL in order to improve the rheological properties of
shear-thinning water-based drilling fluids. Their results showed that
this polymer also increases the stability of shale minerals. Twynam
et al. [27] used polyglycol fluid in order to alleviate drilling fluid fil-
tration in high-pressure and high-temperature conditions and to reduce
other problems such as differential pipe sticking.
The chemical potential difference between drilling fluid and for-
mation plays a vital role in drilling fluid invasion into shale formations.
Van Oort et al. [23,28] showed that the shale-drilling fluid system could
act as a leaky osmotic membrane, which results in the transport of
water from drilling fluid into the shale formation. According to Van
Oort [29], using high salinity drilling fluid can cause an osmotic
backflow from the shale formation to the drilling fluid, which increases
the stability of shale formations. The results obtained by Chenevert
[30], showed if the activity of water content in drilling fluid and shale
formation becomes almost equal, the water invasion into shale forma-
tion reduces, which increases the stability of shale formations sig-
nificantly. Schlemmer et al. [31] studied the osmotic membrane be-
havior of water-based drilling fluids used in the shale formation. Their
results indicated that silicate-based drilling fluids showed nearly op-
timum membrane efficiency and osmotic effects.
It is known that sealing nanoscale pore throats of shale formations
can reduce the drilling fluid filtration significantly; however, the par-
ticle size of common additives in drilling fluid is larger than the size of
pore throats in shale formations [32,33]. Hence, these additives cannot
form an effective mud cake on the surface of shale formations and
subsequently control the drilling fluid filtration process [34,35]. Ac-
cording to Suri and Sharma [36], in order to form an effective drilling
fluid cake layer on shale formations, the particle size of additives
should be less than the size of formation pore throats, which is na-
noscale in the shale formation.
Over the past few years, there has been significant interest in
evaluating the effects of various types of nanoparticles on improving
the shale stability, rheological properties, and thermal stability of dif-
ferent drilling muds. For example, Amanullah et al. [37] found that
using nanoparticles in drilling fluids reduces the fluid loss of drilling
fluid and subsequently increases the stability of shale formations. They
also concluded that adding nanoparticles could effectively improve the
wellbore cleaning, reduce the differential pipe sticking, and enhance
the rheological properties of drilling fluids. Akhtarmanesh et al. [24]
showed that using nanoparticles is the most effective method for im-
proving the stability of shale formations. Similarly, Contreras et al. [38]
found that iron-based and calcium-based nanoparticles increase the
stability of shale formations and decrease the fluid loss of drilling fluid
in high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. Song et al. [39] used
cellulose nanoparticles in order to improve the rheological properties of
drilling fluid.
More interestingly, silica nanoparticles were used by Riley et al.
[35] to improve the rheological properties and filtration of the drilling
fluid and increase the stability of shale formations. Besides, Sensoy
et al. [40] used silica nanoparticles to control the stability of the Gulf of
Mexico (GOM) and Atoka shale. Their results showed that decreasing
the concentration of nanoparticles to less than 10 wt% significantly
reduces the performance of the nanoparticles. It should also be noted
that drilling fluids with nanoparticle concentrations higher than 10 wt
% are not economically efficient and are not usually used in the drilling
industry.
Sample preparation and developing a proper method to add nano-
particles to drilling fluids is of the utmost importance when dealing
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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625
with shale formation [41]. However, most of the previous studies on
evaluating the effect of nanoparticles on shale stability have failed to
describe an effective method for adding nanoparticles to drilling fluids.
Besides, several works proposed adding nanoparticles to drilling fluids
as a dry powder. This method, however, tremendously reduces the
stability of nanoparticles.
A more practical solution for adding nanoparticles to drilling fluids
would be synthesizing nanofluids and then adding them to drilling
muds as liquid-based additives. A nanofluid could be defined as an
engineered colloidal suspension of nanoparticles in a base fluid [42,43].
In the past few years, many pieces of research have been conducted on
evaluating the electrochemical properties, synthesis methods, and sta-
bility of various nanofluids [44,45]. It was reported that adding na-
noparticles to fluids effectively enhance their thermal, electrical, and
rheological properties [46–49]. However, considerable attention must
be paid to the cost and stability of nanofluids when they are supposed to
use as liquid-based additives for drilling muds. These nanofluids should
be stable during the preparation, transportation, and storing at drilling
sites for about 4 to 6 days. Besides, nanofluids will attract the attention
of the drilling industry only if they have a reasonable price. Water-
based silica nanofluids are noticeably stable, and exceptionally easy to
synthesized, yet remarkably cheap compared to the other types of na-
nofluids. These properties make them an excellent additive for drilling
fluids.
In this study, amorphous silica nanoparticles of different sizes (12,
22, 54 nm) were prepared from rice husks, and their properties were
examined. The prepared nanoparticles were then dispersed in water
and added to the glycol-based mud as a liquid-based additive. The
impact of nanoparticles on the rheological properties, filtration, and
shale stability of glycol-based drilling fluids was then studied. Also, a
Pore Pressure Transmission (PPT) device was used to determine the
penetration rate of drilling fluids into shale formations. It was found
that the size and the weight percentage of the nanoparticles are two
parameters that directly affect the rheological properties, filtration, and
shale stability of prepared drilling fluids.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Drilling fluid
In this study, the glycol-based drilling mud was designed based on
the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) procedure. The
amounts and types of additives are described in Table 1. Caustic soda
(NaOH) was used in the glycol fluid in order to balance the fluid pH,
while soda ash (Na2CO3) was used to control water hardness. Potassium
chloride (KCl) was used to regulate the activity of drilling fluid and as a
result, improve the stability of the shale formation. This additive is a
universal inhibitor in the drilling of young shale formations with a high
content of smectites [29]. Low viscosity polyanionic cellulose (PAC-LV)
was added to control the fluid viscosity, reducing the drilling fluid fil-
trate and increasing the shale's stability. PAC-LV has excellent
Table 1
The additives used for producing 350 ccs of glycol-
based drilling fluid.
Mud composition
Fresh water 350 ccs
Caustic soda 0.2 g
Soda Ash 0.5 g
KCl 21 g
PAC-LV 4g
PHPA 1g
Glycol 21 g
Limestone 127.4 g
M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

performance in high salinity drilling fluids. Partially hydrolyzed poly-

acrylamide (PHPA) with low molecular weight (< 10,000 awu) is an-
other common inhibitor which invades the pore system of shale for-
mations and improves shale stability by covering the shale surface.
Besides, the combination of PHPA polymer and potassium chloride has
been found to increase the stability of shale cuttings significantly
[50,51]. Finally, limestone was added to achieve the required weight of
75 pcf. This formula of drilling fluid is a standard formula and widely
used in Gurpi's layer of Iran's oilfields.
For investigating the effect of nanoparticles on different properties
of drilling fluids, different drilling muds containing 2.5, 5, and 10 wt%
of various sizes of silica nanoparticles were prepared. For this purpose,
nanofluids containing 12% of various nanoparticles were synthesized
using the well-known two-step method [52]. Then, these nanofluids or
diluted versions of them were used as the based fluids, and all of the
additives mentioned above are added to them based on the NISOC
standard.

2.1.2. Properties of nanoparticles

Proposing feasible methods for the synthesis of inexpensive nano-
particles which are compatible with drilling fluids is one of the main
challenges for developing sustainable drilling muds for shale forma-
tions. One solution is to use rice husks in order to produce inexpensive
and compatible silica nanoparticles [53–58]. In this study, amorphous
silica nanoparticles are synthesized through the thermal decomposition
of rice husks following with physical grinding. The process for the
synthesis of amorphous silica nanoparticles is described as follows:

2.1.2.1. Preparation of rice husks. An API standard sieve No.30 was

used to separate the long stems and unwanted materials. Next, the
uniform rice husks were washed using warm water to remove the dust
and impurities. The washed rice husks were dried in the oven at 250 °F
for 24 h so that all the moisture was evaporated completely. Finally, the
dried rice husks were ground in order to decrease the volume.

2.1.2.2. Acid washing. In this stage, reformed rice husk powder was
refluxed using hydrochloric acid in a Soxhlet device. This process
eliminates the metal oxides present in the dried rice husks and increases
the silica concentration.

2.1.2.3. Thermal decomposition of the reformed material. The reformed

material obtained in the previous section was thermally decomposed to
obtain the rice husk ash. To achieve this aim, the reformed rice husk
powder was tempered in a muffle furnace for one hour at 660 °F and
then two hours at 1020 °F. In this process, the organic minerals of the Fig. 1. The FESEM images of nanoparticles (A) 12 nm (B) 22 nm (C) 54 nm.
rice husks are degraded, and the obtained rice husk ash contains high
concentrations of silica. and then their size was evaluated. According to the results, the average
size of nanoparticles after 1.5, 3, and 5 h of grinding in the planetary
2.1.2.4. Final grinding. Finally, the amorphous silica nanoparticles ball mill are 54, 22, and 12 nm, respectively. These results are in good
were produced using a planetary ball mill (Pulverisette-6, Fritsch) to agreement with the outcomes of the FESEM test in terms of the average
grind the rice husk ash to the required size. In this study, mill rotation size of nanoparticles.
speed was set to 600 rpm. Besides, a steel grinding medium Furthermore, in order to confirm the stability of prepared nano-
(q = 4.875 g/cm3) with a ball to powder ratio of 3:1 was used. The particles in aqueous solution, the DLS test was performed for solutions
average size of the nanoparticles after 1.5, 3, and 5 h of grinding in the containing 12 wt% of nanoparticles after six days. As can be seen in
planetary ball mill were 54, 22, and 12 nm, respectively. Table 2, the average size of nanoparticles, which are calculated using
the DLS method, are in acceptable agreement with the values
2.1.2.5. Examination of properties of the prepared nanoparticles. A Field
Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) (HITACHI S-4160,
Japan) was used to determine the morphology and structure of the Table 2
prepared nanoparticles. Fig. 1 shows the FESEM images of DLS data for nanofluids containing 12 wt% of various sizes of silica nano-
particles after six days.
nanoparticles with different particle sizes. All of the prepared
nanoparticles have a similar morphology and spherical structure: Samples Average diameter (nm) Polydispersity index (PDI)
hence, the only difference is their particle size. For measuring the
54 nm 59.56 0.65
particle size of the prepared nanoparticles, a dynamic light scattering
22 nm 25.8 0.38
(DLS) device (Model Nano S (red badge-632.8 nm), Malvern, England) 11 nm 13.95 0.44
was used. For this purpose, nanoparticles were first dispersed in water,

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M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

Table 3 Table 4
Composition of prepared nano-silica ob- Mineralogical properties of Gurpi shale.
tained by XRF.
X-ray diffraction Wt%
Compound Wt%
Calcite 11
SiO2 96.9 Quartz 19
CaO 0.23 Dolomite 9
P2O5 0.14 Na-feldespar 4
Fe2O3 0.09 Muscovite-illite 46
Cl 0.05 Chlorite 6
K2O 0.04 Pyrite 5

X-ray diffraction Wt%

Calcite 11
Quartz 19
Dolomite 9
Na-feldespar 4
Muscovite-illite 46
Chlorite 6
Pyrite 5

Fig. 2. XRD patterns of prepared silica nanoparticles with various average

diameters.

represented by the FESEM method. These results highlight the stability

of prepared nanofluids.
The composition of the silica nanoparticles was determined using an
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device (Philips PW2404, Netherlands), as
shown in Table 3. The test results highlight the acceptable purity of
prepared silica nanoparticles. Besides, phase analysis was performed
using the X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Philips X'Pert MPD, Netherlands). Fig. 3. The pore size distribution of Gurpi shale sample.
The results of this test for the prepared nanoparticles are shown in
Fig. 2. It is worth to mention that the XRD pattern of amorphous ma- 1.3*1.3*6-in. columns. The samples were then placed inside a cylind-
terials shows broad diffused peaks while that of crystalline materials rical tube (inside diameter: 2.5 in.), and the gap was filled using epoxy
shows a sharp peak [15,16,59–61]. The lack of sharp peaks in the resin and a curing agent. After the epoxy had cured (72 h), the plug was
graphs of the prepared nanoparticles is an indication of their amor- sliced into 0.314-in. thick samples using a diamond circular saw. These
phous structure. This observation is in good agreement with previous samples were then preserved in mineral oil to prevent any alteration
studies that mentioned if the temperature during thermal decomposi- [40].
tion is less than 1472 °F, the silica in rice husk ash remains amorphous
[58,62–66]. 2.2. Apparatus setup and procedures

2.1.3. Properties of shale samples 2.2.1. Rheology and filtration

Shale is a sedimentary rock which mainly consists of clay, silicate,
quartz, and carbonate minerals. Due to high concentrations of clay
minerals in shale rocks, these rocks have a high tendency to absorb
water and cause wellbore instabilities. In this study, shale samples of
the Gurpi formation were used for PPT and cutting disintegration tests.
The mineralogical properties of Gurpi shale were determined by the
XRD method, as presented in Table 4.
The pore size distribution of Gurpi shale was measured using the
Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure method (MICP) (PoreMasterGT 60
mercury porosimetry instrument, Quantachrome Instruments, USA)
and illustrated in Fig. 3. The test results indicate that the size of pore
throats is less than 1 μm. Hence, the common additives of drilling fluid
cannot form suitable mud cake on the surface of this shale sample.
When preparing a shale sample for using in the PPT device, the
whole diameter of the preserved core sample was cut into the
The rheological properties of the prepared drilling fluids were
measured using a FANN 35 Viscometer (FANN, USA) at the laboratory
temperature. An OFFITE E900 Viscometer (OFFITE, USA) was also used
to measure the rheological properties at elevated temperatures. The
thermal stability of each of the developed drilling muds was determined
by aging them for 4 h at 250 °F [67,68]. The rheological properties of
the drilling fluids after aging were measured according to the API
standard. Besides, the fluid loss of the produced drilling fluids was
measured using an API standard filter press apparatus (FANN, USA).
To validate the accuracy of the experimental apparatus used in this
study, the bentonite drilling fluid that previously produced by Nasiri
et al. [13] was synthesized. Then, the filtration and rheological prop-
erties of this drilling fluid before and after hot rolling were compared
with those data provided by Nasiri et al. [13]. The outcomes presented
in Table 5 highlights the accuracy of the setups used in this study.

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M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

Table 5
Compression between the measured properties of the bentonite drilling fluid before and after hot rolling with those data provided by Nasiri et al. [13].
Instrument Nasiri et al. [13]-Before hot This study-Before hot Nasiri et al.[13]-After hot This study-After hot
rolling rolling rolling rolling

Apparent Viscosity (cP) FANN 35 27 26.5 19 19

OFFITE E900 – 28 – 18.5
Plastic Viscosity (cp) FANN 35 20 20 14 15
OFFITE E900 – 20 – 13
Yield Point (lb/100 ft2) FANN 35 14 13 10 8
OFFITE E900 – 14 – 11
Gel strength 10s/10min (lb/100 ft2) FANN 35 5/6 4.5/5.5 3.5/4.5 3/4.5
OFFITE E900 – 5/6 – 3.5/4.5
Density (pcf) Mud balance 65 65 65 65
Fluid loss (cc) API filter press 17 17.5 15 15.8

2.2.2. Cutting disintegration test
Usually, shale cuttings split during the drilling process of shale
formations, which causes severe changes in the rheological properties
of drilling fluids [69,70]. Hence, analyzing the stability of shale cuttings
is of utmost importance for selecting a proper drilling fluid for shale
formations. In this study, the Gurpi shale sample was ground and sieved
to retain a suitable mesh fraction after screening through 5 and 10 mesh
size screens. Next, 20 g of shale cuttings were added to 350 ccs of
produced drilling fluids. Prepared samples were then hot rolled for 16 h
at 250 °F. Afterward, the drilling fluid was sieved through a fine sieve
(500 nm, mesh 35). The 500 nm sieve was then washed with a saturated
potassium chloride solution to remove impurities. Eventually, the shale
cuttings are washed with warm water to remove any possible traces of
potassium chloride and then dried in an oven at 220 °F. The dried shale
cuttings were weighed, and the shale recovery percentage was then
determined by the following equation [71]:
Weight of dried shale (gr )
Shale recovery (%) = ∗ 100
Weight of initial shale (20 gr )
2.2.3. PPT test
As a part of this study, a PPT device was used in order to determine
the impact of drilling fluids on shale samples. This apparatus has a
chamber to hold the shale sample. As shown in Fig. 4, this chamber
consists of two parts: cap (part A) and base (part B). This device can
hold a shale sample with a diameter of 2.5 in. and a thickness of
0.314 in.. Part A (cap) is connected to a container of drilling fluid. The
drilling fluid is pumped at 300 psi pressure to reach the upper surface of
the shale sample. Part B of the chamber is connected to a container of
saltwater similar to formation water (11 wt% NaCl solution). Part A
represents the borehole condition where the drilling fluid is in contact
with the surface of the shale formation, while part B mimics the for-
mation water, which is naturally present in the shale formation. Precise
pressure sensors are installed in parts A and B of the chamber to record
the changes in pressure. The analysis of pressure changes versus time in
part B reveals the efficiency of nanoparticles in controlling drilling fluid
invasion and shale stability. Eq. (2) is used to calculate β, the com-
parative fluid invasion reduction factor, which can be used to compare
the fluid invasion of the base mud and nano-based drilling fluids.
∆Pi Base mud − ∆Pf Base mud ∆Pi Nano based mud − ∆Pf Nano based mud
∆Pi Base mud
− ∆Pi Nano based mud
β= ∆Pi Base mud − ∆Pf Base mud
∗ 100
∆Pi Base mud (2)
(1)
where ΔPi Base mud and ΔPi Nano-based mud are the initial hydraulic dif-
ferential pressures of the base drilling mud and nano-based drilling
fluid. ΔPf Base mud and ΔPf Nano-based mud are the final hydraulic differ-
ential pressures of the base drilling fluid and nano-based drilling fluid,
and β is the comparative reduction in the fluid invasion in two tests.
3. Result and discussion
3.1. Rheology and filtration

The rheological properties of the glycol fluid and nano-based dril-

ling fluid before and after hot rolling are shown in Table 6. The ap-
parent viscosity, plastic viscosity, yield point, and gel strength of the
glycol fluid were all increased after adding nanoparticles. The rheolo-
gical properties of the glycol-based drilling fluids were affected by the
weight percentage of nanoparticles. As can be seen, by increasing the
weight percentage of nanoparticles, the rheological properties of the
glycol-based muds improved. These properties are also affected by the
size of the nanoparticles. As can be seen in Table 6, by reducing the size
of nanoparticles, all of the rheological parameters of prepared drilling
fluids enhanced.
Routinely, the dynamic cutting suspension and effectiveness of hole
cleaning improve by increasing the yield point of drilling fluids [37].
Besides, effective borehole cleaning reduces technical problems, such as
mechanical pipe sticking, excessive torque, and drag on drilling string
and difficulties in logging and cementing [72]. As a result, it could be
concluded by increasing the yield point of drilling fluids, the overall
cost of the drilling process in complicated drilling situations reduces.
However, the extremely high values of yield point can cause an un-
controlled increase in circulating pressure loss, which in turn results in
the high Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD). High values of ECD
could cause severe formation damage or high circulation pressures,
Fig. 4. Schematic of PPT device. which may exceed the maximum rated pressure of drilling pumps

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Table 6
Comparison of the rheological properties of base drilling fluid and Nano-based drilling fluids before and after 4 h of hot rolling at 250 °F.
Apparent Viscosity (cP) Plastic Viscosity (cp) Yield Point (lb/100 ft2) Gel strength 10s/10min (lb/100 ft2)

Base fluid Before hot rolling 37.5 24 27 7-May

After hot rolling 16.5 12 9 3-Feb
2.5 wt% of 54 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 47 32 30 5.5/7.5
After hot rolling 25.5 19 13 4-Mar
5 wt% of 54 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 51 35 32 8-Jun
After hot rolling 29 21 16 3.5/4.5
10 wt% of 54 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 54 37 34 8-Jun
After hot rolling 35.5 26 19 6-Apr
2.5 wt% of 22 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 50.5 34 33 5.5/7.5
After hot rolling 22.5 20 15 3.5/4.5
5 wt% of 22 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 54 35 38 6.5/8.5
After hot rolling 35 25 20 6-Apr
10 wt% of 22 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 58 38 40 10-Aug
After hot rolling 39.5 28 23 4.5/6.5
2.5 wt% of 12 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 59.5 40 39 10-Sep
After hot rolling 37.5 27 21 5.5/7
5 wt% of 12 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 67.5 42 51 12-Oct
After hot rolling 43.5 30 27 8-Jun
10 wt% of 12 nm nano particles Before hot rolling 73 43 60 10.5/12.5
After hot rolling 46.5 32 29 6.5/8.5

[73,74]. It can be seen in Table 6 that the yield points of drilling fluids
containing 5 and 10% of silica nanoparticles (12 nm) are extremely
high. Hence, these two drilling fluids are not appropriate for the drilling
process and are not considered for PPT tests and experiments regarding
the stability of drilling cuttings.
The experimental outcomes presented in this section also showed
that the rheological properties of the base drilling fluid significantly
reduce after 4 h of hot rolling at 250 °F. However, the prepared drilling
fluids that contain nanoparticles have experienced less severe rheolo-
gical reduction compared to the base drilling fluid. Table 6 also in-
dicates that fluids containing higher concentrations of nanoparticles
experience a smaller drop in rheological properties. As a result, it can be
concluded that adding nanoparticles to drilling fluids can effectively
increase their thermal stability.
Fig. 5 compares the fluid loss of the base drilling fluid and nano-
based drilling fluids before and after hot rolling. The results indicate
that fluid loss is lower for the nano-based drilling fluids. As can be seen,
fluid loss decreases by increasing the size of the nanoparticles. As a Fig. 6. Shear rate vs. shear stress for the glycol-based drilling fluid.
result, the samples that contain 54 nm silica nanoparticles experienced
the lowest fluid loss. Besides, increasing the weight percentage of na- drilling fluids is almost constant before and after hot rolling. These
noparticles also reduces the fluid loss of prepared samples. It is also results again confirm the thermal stability of nano-based drilling fluids.
worth to mention that the fluid loss of base glycol drilling fluid in- Figs. 6 and 7 show the shear stress of base glycol mud and nano-
creases after hot rolling, while the amount of fluid loss for nano-based based drilling fluids plotted versus shear rate. It can be seen in Fig. 6

Fig. 5. The changes in fluid loss of the base glycol drilling fluid and nano-based drilling fluids before and after 4 h of hot rolling at 250 °F.

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M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

Fig. 7. Shear rate vs. shear stress for nano-based drilling fluids.

that the yield stress (i.e., the minimum stress required for fluid to flow)
of the base glycol drilling fluid decreased significantly as the tem-
perature increased. On the other hand, the yield stress of nano-based
fluids decreased slightly at elevated temperatures. Fig. 6 shows a large
gap between the plots of shear stress vs. shear rate at 85 °F and 150 °F,
which means increasing the temperature significantly reduces the
rheological properties of this mud. However, this large gap between
plots cannot be observed in the plots of nano-based fluids. These results
indicate that nanoparticles can maintain the rheological properties of
glycol drilling fluids at elevated temperatures.
3.2. Stability of shale cuttings
As mentioned above, in this study, the effect of nanoparticles on the
stability of shale cuttings was examined. For this purpose, 20 g of shale
cuttings were added to 350 ccs of drilling fluid and hot rolled for 16 h at

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M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

Fig. 8. The shale recovery percentage of the base mud and nano-based drilling fluids.

250 °F. The shale recovery percentage was then calculated based on the
weight of dried shale cuttings remaining in the drilling fluid after this
process. The results of these experiments are plotted in Fig. 8 for the
base drilling fluid and nano-based drilling fluids. It can be observed that
adding nanoparticles improves the shale recovery percentage sig-
nificantly. However, this improvement depended on the size and weight
percentage of the nanoparticles. At the same particle size, the shale
recovery percentage is improved by increasing the weight percentage of
nanoparticles. Besides, at a constant weight percentage, 22 nm silica
nanoparticles have the highest shale recovery percentage.
Fig. 9 compares the cutting shale recovery percentage of the glycol
mud containing 10 wt% of 22 nm silica nanoparticles with those new
water-based drilling fluids that recently reported in the literature
[71,72,75,76]. As can be seen, the cutting recovery percentage of this
drilling fluids is higher than those of water-based and polymer-based
muds that contain ionic liquid, organosilicate polymeric solution, and
hyperbranched polyethylenimine solution. It should also mention that
the cutting shale recovery percentage of the heavy weight drilling fluid
that contains 6 wt% of 1,6-hexamethylenediamin is slightly higher than
the drilling fluids that designed in this study. However, 1,6-hexam-
ethylenediamin is a relatively toxic, and most of the drilling companies
are not allowed to use large quantities of this additive, especially in the
locations near to rivers and open seas [77,78].
3.3. The effect of drilling fluid on Gurpi shale (using PPT device)
The results of experiments performed on Gurpi shale using a PPT
device for base glycol drilling fluid and nano-based drilling fluids are
illustrated in Fig. 10, while the comparative reduction factors in the
fluid invasion for different nano-based drilling fluids are shown in
Fig. 11. For the base glycol drilling fluid, the downstream pressure
reaches the value of the upstream pressure at the end of the test. Hence,

Fig. 9. Comparison between the cutting shale recovery percentage of the glycol mud that contains 10 wt% of 22 nm silica nanoparticles and those new water-based
drilling fluids that recently reported in the literature [71,72,75,76].

8
M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625

Fig. 10. Downstream pressure of the base glycol drilling fluid and nano-based drilling fluids with different concentrations of nano-silica particles ((A) 2.5 wt%, (B)
5 wt% and (C) 10 wt%).

Fig. 11. The comparative reduction in fluid invasion of different nano-based drilling fluids.

Table 7 this fluid decreases the formation stability and is not an appropriate
Additives used for producing 350 ccs of the oil-based drilling fluid for drilling in Gurpi shale formation.
fluid that routinely used by NISOC. The weight percentage and size of the nanoparticles are two para-
Drilling Fluid Composition meters that affect the stability of Gurpi shale formation. As can be seen,
by increasing the weight percentage of nanoparticles, the invasion rate
Oil/water ratio 73/27 of drilling fluids reduces significantly. Moreover, among the prepared
Diesel oil 255.5 ccs
nanoparticles, 22 nm silica nanoparticles have the highest impact on
Calcium chloride water 94.5 ccs
Primary emulsifier 11.095 ccs reducing the invasion rate of drilling fluids.
Fluid loss controller 14 g By adding 2.5 wt% of 22, 54, and 12 nm nanoparticles to the drilling
fluid, the invasion rate into the Gurpi shale formation reduces by 52.9,

9
M. Keshavarz Moraveji, et al.
Fig. 12. Comparison between the comparative reduction in fluid invasion of the
glycol mud that contains 10 wt% of 22 nm silica nanoparticles and the drilling
fluid designed by Sensoy et al. [40].
39.3, and 24.4% compared to the base glycol drilling mud. On the other
hand, at the weight percentage of 5%, adding nanoparticles of 22 and
54 nm reduced the invasion rate by 73.7 and 61.5%, respectively.
Besides, at the weight percentage of 10%, the reduction in invasion rate
for the same nanoparticles was 94.7 and 86.6 compared to base glycol
drilling fluid. These outcomes indicate that when 10 wt% of silica na-
noparticles are added to the glycol-based drilling mud, the Gurpi shale
is almost unaffected.
In addition, the PPT has also performed for a conventional oil-based
drilling fluid. Table 7 shows the additives used for producing 350 ccs of
the oil-based drilling fluid that routinely used by NISOC during the
drilling of shale formations. The comparative reduction in water inva-
sion of the used oil-based drilling fluid was 95.1%. As a result, the
performance of this oil-based drilling fluid is slightly higher than the
best sample produced in this study (the drilling mud that contains 10 wt
% of the 22 nm silica nanoparticles). However, due to the environ-
mental restrictions for using the oil-based drilling fluids, it is re-
commended to use the drilling fluid designed in this study instead of the
conventional oil-based drilling muds.
The comparative reduction in fluid invasion of the glycol drilling
fluid that contains 10 wt% of 22 nm silica nanoparticles was compared
with those data reported by Sensoy et al. [40]. Sensoy et al. [40] syn-
thesized a water-based drilling fluid containing 10 wt% of 20 nm silica
nanoparticles and used the PPT apparatus to investigate the stability of
Atoka and GOM shale. Fig. 12 shows that the glycol-based drilling fluid
that designed in this study has a superlative performance for stabilizing
the shale formation compared to the drilling fluid designed by Sensoy
et al. [40].
4. Conclusion
In this study, amorphous silica nanoparticles with different sizes
(12, 22, and 54 nm) were synthesized. The nanoparticles were then
dispersed in water using the well-known two-step methods to produce
silica nanofluids. The prepared nanofluids were then added to drilling
mud to improve the rheological properties, filtration, and shale stability
of the glycol drilling fluid. The results of the experiments performed in
this work are as followed:
• Adding nanoparticles to glycol drilling fluid enhances the rheolo-
gical properties of drilling fluid. This enhancement is directly re-
lated to the size and concentration of nanoparticles.
• The fluid loss of nano-based drilling fluid before and after hot rolling
is much lower than that of the base glycol drilling fluid.
• Adding nanoparticles to drilling fluids effectively improves their
thermal stability.
10
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 115 (2020) 104625
• Adding silica nanoparticles to glycol-based drilling fluid could ef-
fectively improve the shale stability of this type of drilling fluids.
• shale stability of nano-based drilling fluids depends on the size
The
and concentration of nanoparticles.
• When the size and concentration of nanoparticles were 22 nm and
10 wt%, respectively, the shale instability was minimum.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
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