Shi 2023 J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2459 012020

Journal of Physics: Conference Series
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IFEMMT-2022 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2459 (2023) 012020 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2459/1/012020
Clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid suitable for high

temperature
He Shi1a*, Xiaoxiao Ni1b, Jiaqi Zhang1c, Rongchao Cheng1d, Lili Yan1e, Jianhua
Wang1f, Rentong Liu1g, Yuan geng1h
1
CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited, Beijing 102206, China
a
*shihedr@cnpc.com.cn, bnixxdr@cnpc.com.cn, czhangjqdr@cnpc.com.cn,
d
crcdri@cnpc.com.cn, eyanlilidr@cnpc.com.cn, fwjhdri@cnpc.com.cn,
g
liurtdr@cnpc.com.cn, hgengyuandr@cnpc.com.cn
Abstract—This paper introduces the formation of a clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid

system. The system uses the biodiesel derived from the transesterification between soybean oil
and methanol as the continuous phase, which is environmentally friendly and has an appropriate
flow state. In order to inhibit the hydrolysis of the base oil under high temperatures, a small
amount of methanol is retained and Lime addition is minimized. Besides, the system also
contains a special polyamine-typed rheological modifier instead of organoclay to provide a
fragile gel-structure with lower plastic viscosity and higher yield point, thus good for hole
cleaning and solid suspension while keeping a higher rate of penetration (ROP). In order to
strengthen the plugging and fluid loss control abilities, superfine calcium carbonate and oxidized
asphalt are added and obtain a good outcome. Evaluation results showed that the clay-free
biodiesel-based drilling fluid exhibits good properties of rheology, filtration, and emulsion
stability, with temperature resistance over 200°C, which is suitable for the exploration of
unconventional oil/gas restores.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, with the gradual depletion of conventional oil and gas resources worldwide, unconventional
oil and gas such as deep, ultra-deep, and shale oil and gas have become important alternative energy
resources[1]. Due to extremely complex geological conditions, oil-based drilling fluids (also called oil-
based mud) are generally used to reduce downhole complexity for their superior to water-based drilling
fluids in lubricity, inhibition, and stability in high temperatures [2]. However, conventional oil-based
drilling fluids often suffer from several problems[3]. Firstly, as the most commonly used base oil, diesel
has a high content of aromatic hydrocarbons and high biological toxicity. Secondly, organoclay is always
used as the basic viscosifier, which is easy to fail due to the desorption of the surface modifier when the
temperature is higher than 150°C, increasing the risk of weighting mater settlement. In addition, the use
of organoclay also leads to a lower limit of solid phase capacity, and a large viscosity effect at high
density, leading to a high equivalent circulating density, which increases the risk of leakage.
In recent years, people have been working on solving the environmental problems caused by oil-
based drilling fluids, and biodiesel-based drilling fluid is one of the directions[4]. Biodiesel is obtained
by transesterification of animal and vegetable oils and alcohols, which is mainly comprised of fatty acid
esters, non-toxic and easy to biodegrade, thus can effectively alleviate the environmental pollution
derived from the base oil. What’s more, the application of biodiesel in drilling fluid is also beneficial to
promote the reuse of waste oil. Studies have shown that the conventional performance of biodiesel-
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based drilling fluids is comparable to that of traditional oil-based drilling fluids. However, due to the
high viscosity and hydrolysis of fatty acid esters in high temperature, water, and alkaline conditions, the
rheological regulation, oil-water ratio, density, filtration loss, and temperature resistance of biodiesel-
based drilling fluids are greatly limited, thus difficult to meet the needs of practical uses[5-7].
Aiming at the above problems of traditional oil-based and biodiesel-based drilling fluids, research
on high-performance clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluids is carried out in this work. The biodiesel
used as a continuous phase is prepared by transesterification between soybean oil and methanol, with
appropriate excess of methanol to improve high temperature and hydrolytic stability. In view of the high
viscosity effect of biodiesel, a polyamide rheological modifier is used instead of organoclay to form a
fragile network structure with low viscosity and high shear stress, thus allowing the system to hold more
solids and water while maintaining reasonable rheology. In addition, ultra-fine calcium carbonate and
oxidized asphalt are added to improve the plugging and filtration performance for the formation with
micro-fracture development that might be encountered. This study will be beneficial for the application
of clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid in unconventional oil and gas drilling.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1 Materials
The genetically modified soybean oil was bought from the Yihaijiali golden dragon fish grain, oil, and
food co. LTD. The methanol (purity ≥ 99%), sodium hydroxide (powder, purity ≥ 96%), anhydrous
calcium chloride (purity ≥ 95%), and lime (purity ≥ 95%) were bought from the Saan Chemical
Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The primary emulsifier, DR-EM is a kind of fatty acid amide and the
secondary is the emulsifier DR-CO, which is a kind of alkanol amide, the rheological modifier DR-RM
is a kind of poly fatty acid amide, the organoclay FH130D is a kind of organically modified bentonite,
the 5000mesh super fine calcium carbonate (CC5000), the oxidized asphalt with a softening point of
180°C(OA180) and the weighting material barite are all commercial products provided by the CNPC
Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited. No. 0 diesel and No. 3 white oil were purchased from
Guangzhou Maoming Co., Ltd., Saraline185V was purchased from Shell Co., Ltd., and Escaid110 was
purchased from ExxonMobil Co., Ltd.
2.2 Preparation and characterization of biodiesel

0.5mol genetically modified soybean oil was poured into a 1000 mL beaker and pre-heated at 60°C for
1 h. 2g Sodium hydroxide powder was added into 3mol methanol, stirring with a magnetic stirrer at
1000 rpm at 60°C until the sodium hydroxide was totally dissolved. Then, the sodium
hydroxide/methanol solution was added to the soybean oil, stirring with a magnetic stirrer at 1000 rpm
at 60°C for 1h. During the reaction, the beaker is sealed with plastic wrap. Then the mixture was settled
at room temperature for the glycerol to settle at the bottom of the beaker by gravity. After the separation
was complete, the bottom glycerin layer was removed, and the supernatant was retained without any
further purification as the continuous phase of the drilling fluid.
The component of the obtained product was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(Agilent GC-MS 7890A-5975C USA). Then, Indexes of the prepared biodiesel were tested and
compared with other common drilling fluid base oils. The density at 20°C is tested with reference to
GB/T 1884-2000 (2004), the kinematic viscosity at 40°C is tested with reference to GB/T 265-1988
(2004), the closed flash point is tested with reference to GB/T 261-2008, and the pour point is tested
with reference to GB/T 3535-2006.
The viscosity of biodiesel at different temperatures was conducted by a HAAKE MARS60 rheometer
in rate scan mode and the shear rate was fixed at 1000 s-1. The rheometer was operated under a plate
model using C35 1°/Tirotor. The sample volume was 0.2 mL and the gap distance was 0.053mm. In
order to ensure the accuracy of the test results, the average value of 100 valid data points for any sample
at each test temperature is taken as the Final result.
2
2.3 Preparation and evaluation of the drilling fluids

In this work, the preparation and evaluation of oil-based drilling fluids were carried out concerning API
standards, and the number of agents was expressed as the mass fraction of the total volume of oil and
water. To carry out the formula research, the total volume of base oil and 25wt% calcium chloride brine
was fixed at 300ml and the primary and secondary emulsifiers were both added at 3wt%. Then, studies
on the effects of other agents such as the rheological modifier, lime, oxidized asphalt, and superfine
calcium carbonate were carried out, so as to guide the formation of the clay-free biodiesel-based drilling
fluid. To illustrate the characteristics of the clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid, we also compared
the drilling fluids with organoclay and rheological modifiers respectively.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Characterization of biodiesel

The obtained biodiesel is a light-yellow transparent liquid, and its appearance is shown in Figure 1.
Based on the result of the GC-MS, the components of the biodiesel are shown in Table 1. The biodiesel
contains a variety of fatty acid methyl esters, but the fatty acids are mainly concentrated in C16 and C18,
of which C18 is more than 70%. In addition, due to the lack of further purification, there is still a little
amount of methanol in the product, which is beneficial to inhibit the hydrolysis reaction of fatty acid
methyl ester to a certain degree.
Fig 1. The appearance of the biodiesel
Table 1. The main component of the biodiesel

Component Corresponding fatty acid Content (wt %)
Methanol / ~2.0-3.0
Octylic acid methyl ester C8:0 ~0.02-0.03
Methyl myristate C14:0 ~0.1-0.2
Methyl pentadecanoate C15:0 ~0.02-0.03
Methyl 9-hexadecenoate C16:1 ~0.1-0.2
Methyl stearate C18:0 ~8.0-9.0
Methyl oleate C18:1 ~20.0-21.0
Methyl linoleate C18:2 ~51.0-52.0
methyl oleate C20:0 ~1.0-2.0
The basic physical and chemical indicators of biodiesel are shown in Table 2, with a comparison with
other base oils. The closed flash point of biodiesel is much higher than that of other base oils, making it
safer to use. The kinematic viscosity of biodiesel is greater than that of other oils. Both the pour point
and the viscosity-temperature curves (shown in Figure 2) show that, compared with other base oils, the
temperature has a greater impact on biodiesel. As the temperature decreases, biodiesel will obviously
thicken, thus, it’ll be harder to control the rheological properties of biodiesel-based drilling fluids at low
temperatures.
3
Table 2. Indicators of different base oils

Kinematic
Density at Closed flash Pour
Sample Apparent viscosity at
20℃(g/cm3) point(℃) point(℃)
40℃(mm2/s)
light yellow
Biodiesel 0.891 5.108 133 -1
liquid
colorless
Escaid110 0.774 1.727 70 -30
liquid
colorless
Saraline185V 0.792 2.896 82 -20
liquid
light yellow
No. 0 diesel 0.861 3.517 55 -18
liquid
No.3 white colorless
0.811 3.221 80 -3
oil liquid
7
Escaid110
6 No. 0 diTsTl
Viscosity (mPa.s)
No. 3 whitT oil

5 BiodiTsTl
saTalinT185V
4
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
TTmTTTatTTT (℃)
Fig 2. Viscosity-temperature curves of different base oils
3.2 Research on formula
3.2.1. Emulsion stability

For oil-based drilling fluids, the stability of the water-in-oil emulsion is fundamental to ensure good
performance. We formulated different base oils into a series of water-in-oil emulsions (only including
base oil, calcium chloride brine, emulsifiers, and 1wt% lime) with different oil/water ratios, and aged
these emulsions at 120°C for 16 hours to make sure the emulsifiers were fully functioning. After that,
the emulsion breaking voltage (ES) of each emulsion was tested separately to compare their stability, as
shown in Figure 3. According to the results, the ES of biodiesel-based emulsions was significantly higher
than that of other base oils under the same oil/water ratios, indicating that biodiesel has great advantages
in emulsion stabilization.
4
(a) 1532 (b) 1165

ES (V)
ES (V)
731
522
415 427
324 219
197 204
BiodiTsTl DiTsTl Escaid110 SaTalinT185V No.3 whitT oil BiodiTsTl DiTsTl Escaid110 SaTalinT185V No.3 whitT oil
(c) 982
ES (V)
208
112 125
91
BiodiTsTl DiTsTl Escaid110 SaTalinT185V No.3 whitT oil
Fig 3. Emulsion breaking voltage of emulsions with a different base oil, (a) oil/water ratio 90:10, (b)
oil/water ratio 80:20, (c) oil/water ratio 70:30
3.2.2. Evaluation of the rheological modifier

In this part, biodiesel-based emulsions with different oil/water ratios (O/W) were weighed to a density
of 1.5 g/cm3, as the basic formulations for the evaluation of rheological modifier DR-RM. The effects
of 0.5wt% DR-RM under different aging conditions on the properties of basic formulations were
compared, as shown in Table 3-6. In basic formulations with different oil/water ratios, DR-RM can
effectively improve apparent viscosity (AV), plastic viscosity (PV), dynamic shear force (YP), 6/3rpm
readings (φ6/φ3), and Gel strength at 10s and 10min (Gel10s/10min) before and after aging, without
any adverse effect on the emulsion stability. In addition, DR-RM can significantly increase the ratio of
YP to PV (YP/PV), indicating that it can form a fragile gel structure that exhibits a low viscosity and
high shear stress in emulsions, thus good for improving the ROP while ensuring solid suspension and
wellbore cleaning. This effect might be derived from the hydrogen bonding between the amide group of
DR-RM and the emulsion droplets, as the effect of DR-RM would be stronger with the increase of brine
content. After aging, all the basic formulations were thickened, and the phenomenon increased with the
aging temperature and water content, which could be attributed to the hydrolysis of biodiesel. DR-RM
did not result in further thickening of the aged mud, indicating good compatibility with biodiesel-based
drilling fluids. DR-RM has good high-temperature resistance, since it still shows the obvious effect after
aging at 200°C for 16h. However, the effect would be weakened as the ageing time extended to 72h.
Therefore, supplementing DR-RM in time when drilling in high-temperature formations would be
necessary to ensure mud performance.
Table 3. Effect of DR-RM on mud properties (before aging)
DR-RM AV PV YP Gel10s/10min ES
O/W YP/PV Φ6/Φ3
/wt% /mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /Pa /V
90:10 0 19 17 2 0.118 2/1 0.5/1 1423
90:10 0.5 32 26 6 0.231 5/4 3/5 1501
80:20 0 26 22 4 0.182 3/2 1/2 1207
80:20 0.5 51 41 10 0.244 8/7 5/8 1242
70:30 0 42 37 5 0.135 5/4 2/3 877
70:30 0.5 66 50 16 0.320 14/13 8/12 915
Note: AV, PV, YP, and Gel10s/10min were tested at 65℃
5
Table 4. Effect of DR-RM on mud properties (aged at 150℃ for 16h)

DR-RM AV PV YP Gel10s/10min ES
O/W YP/PV Φ6/Φ3
/wt% /mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /Pa /V
90:10 0 21 18 3 0.167 3/2 1/2 1662
90:10 0.5 35 28 7 0.250 6/5 3/5 1605
80:20 0 30 24 6 0.250 5/4 2/3 1307
80:20 0.5 58 46 12 0.261 9/8 5/10 1442
70:30 0 55 48 7 0.146 7/6 4/5 1077
70:30 0.5 73 59 14 0.237 12/11 7/10 1015

Gel10s/10mi
DR-RM AV PV YP ES
O/W YP/PV Φ6/Φ3 n
/wt% /mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /V
/Pa
90:10 0 29 26 3 0.115 3/2 1/2 1223
90:10 0.5 30 25 5 0.200 4/3 2/4 1211
80:20 0 37 33 4 0.121 4/3 2/2 828
80:20 0.5 54 45 9 0.200 8/7 4/8 842
70:30 0 63 56 7 0.125 6/5 3/4 672
70:30 0.5 70 59 11 0.186 10/9 6/8 715

Gel10s/10mi
DR-RM AV PV YP ES
O/W YP/PV Φ6/Φ3 n
/Pa
90:10 0 32 30 2 0.067 3/2 1/2 919
90:10 0.5 31 27 4 0.148 4/3 3/4 1022
80:20 0 43 41 2 0.049 6/5 3/4 774
80:20 0.5 47 43 4 0.093 7/6 3/6 826
70:30 0 69 66 3 0.045 9/8 4/5 542
70:30 0.5 65 61 4 0.066 10/9 5/6 503
3.2.3. Filt loss control

Due to the development of micro-fractures in deep shale gas, the filtrate of oil-based drilling fluids will
enter the fractures and cause pressure transfer, resulting in instability of the wellbore and collapse of
blocks. Therefore, in the process of shale oil and gas production, the control of oil-based drilling fluid
filtration plays an important role. According to the previous method, we prepared the formula with an
oil/water ratio of 80:20 and density of 1.5g/cm3 as the blank group, then tried to control the high
temperature and high pressure(HTHP) filtration by adding oxidized asphalt(OA) and 5000mesh calcium
carbonate(CC5000), as shown in Figure 4. In the blank group without any fluid loss reducer, the HTHP
filtration was up to 38mL at 180℃. The filtration decreased gradually with the increase of OA180
concentration. When the addition of OA180 reached 4 wt%, the filtration decreased to 16 mL. Compared
with OA180, CC5000 showed a weaker effect in reducing filtration loss. When the addition of CC5000
reached 4wt%, the filtration was reduced to 27mL. When CC5000 was further added on the basis of
4wt% OA180, the filtration exhibited a further decrease. When the concentration of CC5000 exceeded
2wt%, the filtration remained at 7~8mL without any significant changes. The results showed that the
synergistic use of oxidized asphalt and ultrafine calcium carbonate can exhibit a better filtration
6
reduction effect in biodiesel-based drilling fluids. This may be caused that the 5000mesh calcium
carbonate, as a commonly used rigid particle plugging agent, has a particle size of 2.6 μm, so it can
further fill the micron pores of the mud cake on the basis of oxidized asphalt, making the mud cake more
compact and thus obtaining a lower filtration loss.
Blank
1wt%OA180
2wt%OA180
3wt%OA180
4wt%OA180
1wt%CC5000
2wt%CC5000
3wt%CC5000
4wt%CC5000
4wt%OA180+1wt%CC5000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
FiltTation (mL)
Fig 4. HTHP filtration loss results of biodiesel-based drilling fluids (tested at 180℃ )
3.2.4. Effects of lime

Lime is often added to oil-based drilling fluids as reserve alkalinity to activate emulsifiers and prevent
the intrusion of the acid gases which have been produced[8]. However, since the main component of
biodiesel is fatty acid methyl ester, the alkaline environment made by lime will promote the hydrolysis
reaction of biodiesel in a water-rich or high-temperature environment, and then generate calcium soap,
resulting in thickening or even solidification of the drilling fluid. Based on the research of Li[9-11],
conventional biodiesel-based drilling fluids will have obvious hydrolysis and thickening phenomena
when the temperature exceeds 120°C. In this work, the hydrolysis of biodiesel will be inhibited to some
extent due to the retention of a small amount of methanol. In order to investigate the best formula, we
analyzed the influence of lime concentration on the performance of the basic formula with different oil-
water ratios and a density of 1.5g/cm3. The results are shown in Tables 7-9. The increase of lime had
little effect on the performance of the formula with an oil/water ratio of 90:10. However, as the brine
content increased, lime would cause significant thickening after aging at high temperatures. Especially
at the temperature of 200℃, when the lime content reached 3wt% in the formula with an oil-water ratio
of 70:30, the formula was solidified due to the severe hydrolysis saponification of biodiesel.
Table 7. Mud properties with 1wt% lime
Aging
AV PV YP Φ6/ Gel10s/10min Es
O/W temperature State
/mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s Φ3 /Pa /V
/℃
90:10 120 21 18 3 3/2 1/2 1598 flowable
90:10 150 22 18 4 3/2 1/2 1606 flowable
90:10 200 29 26 3 3/2 1/2 1223 flowable
80:20 120 24 21 3 3/2 2/2 1282 flowable
80:20 150 30 24 6 5/4 2/3 1307 flowable
80:20 200 37 33 4 4/3 2/2 828 flowable
70:30 120 41 35 6 6/5 5/4 909 flowable
70:30 150 55 48 7 7/6 4/5 1077 flowable
70:30 200 63 56 7 6/5 3/4 672 flowable
7

Aging
AV PV YP Gel10s/10min Es
O/W temperature Φ6/Φ3 State
/mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /Pa /V
/℃
90:10 120 23 19 4 3/2 1/2 1413 flowable
90:10 150 21 18 3 3/2 1/2 1406 flowable
90:10 200 34 29 5 4/3 2/3 1154 flowable
80:20 120 27 23 4 4/3 2/3 1139 flowable
80:20 150 32 27 5 4/3 2/3 1212 flowable
80:20 200 46 38 8 8/7 3/4 635 flowable
70:30 120 39 34 5 5/4 2/3 716 flowable
70:30 150 68 56 12 10/9 4/6 591 flowable
70:30 200 105 83 22 21/18 9/12 418 flowable

Aging
AV PV YP Gel10s/10min Es
O/W temperature Φ6/Φ3 State
/mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /Pa /V
/℃
90:10 120 22 18 4 3/2 1/2 1727 flowable
90:10 150 28 22 6 5/4 2/3 1589 flowable
90:10 200 41 35 6 5/4 2/3 1324 flowable
80:20 120 36 30 6 5/4 2/3 816 flowable
80:20 150 52 44 8 8/7 3/4 747 flowable
80:20 200 96 79 17 12/10 5/7 492 flowable
70:30 120 48 39 11 9/8 4/5 536 flowable
70:30 150 114 91 23 31/24 12/16 368 flowable
70:30 200 / / / / / / solidify
Note: AV, PV, YP, and Gel10s/10min were tested at 65℃, “/” means over range or can’t be measured.
3.3 Comparative evaluation of clay-free and organoclay-containing biodiesel-based drilling fluids

Based on the research in the previous section, the formula of clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid was
confirmed. The oil/water ratio was fixed at 90:10 to maximize the high temperature and hydrolytic
stability of the base emulsion. For ensuring the ability of filtration control, the addition of OA180 and
CC5000 was fixed at 4wt% and 2wt%, respectively. Lime was added at 1 wt% to provide a comparative
reserve alkalinity to the formulation while minimizing its negative effects on it. Finally, the rheological
properties were regulated to the ideal state by adding an appropriate amount of the rheological modifier
DR-RM. Based on this, a comprehensive comparison of the clay-free(CF) and organoclay-
containing(CC) biodiesel-based drilling fluids was carried out. The drilling fluids with different
densities were first aged under 200℃ for 16h, and then various performance evaluations were carried
out. The results are shown in Table 10. Although the addition of organo-clay can bring a little higher Es
voltage and lower filtration loss, these weak advantages cannot cover the advantages brought by the low
viscosity and high shear rheological characteristics of the clay-free system. When the density was the
same and YP, φ6/3, and Gel10s/10min were close to each other, the clay-free system has lower AV and
PV, resulting in a higher YP/PV ratio. In turn, it is beneficial to significantly accelerate ROP, shorten the
drilling cycle, and save costs while maintaining the same solid suspension and hole-cleaning capacity.
8
Table 10. Mud properties of different densities

Gel10s/1
Density/ AV PV YP Es
Formula Φ6/Φ3 0min YP/PV FL180℃
g/cm3 /mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /V
/Pa
CF 37 31 6 7/6 4/5 0.194 9.4 1418
1.5
CC 48 43 5 6/5 3/4 0.116 6.8 1639
CF 42 35 7 7/6 3/4 0.200 8.2 1128
1.8
CC 56 52 4 7/6 3/4 0.077 5.2 1306
CF 59 52 7 8/7 4/6 0.135 4.8 1357
2.0
CC 77 71 6 10/9 4/5 0.085 4.4 1512
CF 69.5 56 13.5 12/11 5/7 0.241 6.2 1329
2.2
CC 94 86 8 15/12 6/7 0.093 4.4 1388
The pollution experiments of 25wt% calcium chloride brine and cuttings were carried out on drilling
fluid with a density of 2.2g/cm3. The results are shown in Table 11 and Table 12. With the gradual
increase of the contamination of calcium chloride brine and cuttings, the system appears to thicken, and
the Es voltage decreases. Wherein, under the same pollution conditions, the clay-containing system had
a higher degree of thickening. When the brine pollution reached 15wt% or the cuttings pollution reached
10wt%, the rheological parameters of the clay-containing mud would be beyond the test range of the
instrument. However, the clay-free system still had a good flow state when the contamination of brine
and cuttings reached 15wt%, indicating that the soil-free system has larger brine and solid phase capacity
and stronger anti-pollution ability.
Table 11. Calcium chloride brine pollution experiment
Calcium Gel10s/
AV PV YP Es
chloride Formula Φ6/Φ3 10min
/mPa.s /mPa.s /mPa.s /V
brine /wt% /Pa
CF 41 36 5 7/6 4/5 1256
5
CC 54 48 6 8/7 4/5 1302
CF 69 58 11 10/9 5/6 811
10
CC 108 95 13 14/13 7/8 842
CF 76 63 13 12/11 6/7 617
15
CC / / / 32/28 15/16 522
Table 12. Cuttings pollution experiment

Gel10s/
Cuttings AV PV YP Es
Formula Φ6/Φ3 10min
/Pa
CF 46 37 9 9/8 4/5 887
5
CC 67 54 13 12/11 6/7 802
CF 78 63 15 14/12 6/7 681
10
CC / / / 18/15 12/10 525
CF 86 74 12 14/13 7/8 557
15
CC / / / 24/22 11/12 422
4. Conclusion
Biodiesel with a certain hydrolysis inhibition ability was prepared by transesterification of appropriate
excess methanol and soybean oil. Based on this, a clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid system was
constructed through the cooperation of other treatment agents. By maintaining a high oil-water ratio of
9
90:10 and a minimal lime addition, sufficient emulsion stability, good hydrolytic stability, and
rheological controllability of the base emulsion were ensured. By using a polyamide-type rheological
modifier instead of organo-clay to provide a fragile gel structure with low viscosity and high shear stress,
the system was more conducive to improving the ROP while ensuring the solid phase suspension and
wellbore cleaning ability. The control of fluid loss was achieved by the synergistic action of the oxidized
pitch with a softening point of 180°C and ultrafine calcium carbonate with an average diameter of 2.6μm.
Finally, the formed clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid could be weighed up to 2.2g/cm3, with
reasonable rheological properties after being aged at 200°C and the resistance to brine and cuttings
contamination could reach 15wt%. The results show that the clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid has
good application prospects in the development of deep shale oil and gas.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the scientific research and technology development project of
CNPC (Grants 2020E-2803(JT) and 2021DJ4401).
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Clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid suitable for high

Abstract—This paper introduces the formation of a clay-free biodiesel-based drilling fluid

2. Materials and Methods

2.2 Preparation and characterization of biodiesel

2.3 Preparation and evaluation of the drilling fluids

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 Characterization of biodiesel

Fig 1. The appearance of the biodiesel

Table 1. The main component of the biodiesel

Table 2. Indicators of different base oils

No. 3 whitT oil

3.2 Research on formula

3.2.1. Emulsion stability

(a) 1532 (b) 1165

BiodiTsTl DiTsTl Escaid110 SaTalinT185V No.3 whitT oil

3.2.2. Evaluation of the rheological modifier

Table 4. Effect of DR-RM on mud properties (aged at 150℃ for 16h)

Table 5. Effect of DR-RM on mud properties (aged at 200℃ for 16h)

Table 6. Effect of DR-RM on mud properties (aged at 200℃ for 72h)

3.2.3. Filt loss control

3.2.4. Effects of lime

Table 8. Mud properties with 2wt% lime

Table 9. Mud properties with 3wt% lime

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Table 10. Mud properties of different densities

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