Sodium dodecyl sulphate-treated nanohydroxyapatite as an efficient shale stabilizer for water-based drilling fluids

• Main Authors: Oseh, Jeffrey O., Norddin, M. N. A. M., Ismail, Issham, Duru, Ugochukwu I., Ngouangna, Eugene N., Gbadamosi, Afeez O., Agi, Augustine Aja, Yahya, Muftahu N., Abdillahi, Abdirahim O., Oguamah, Ifeanyi A., Omar, Shaziera B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V. 2024
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/42994/1/Sodium%20dodecyl%20sulphate-treated%20nanohydroxyapatite.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/42994/; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2024.105760; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2024.105760

Drilling water-sensitive shale formations often leads to wellbore instability, resulting in drilling problems because of the clay's high-water affinity. To solve this problem, different nanoparticles (NPs), such as nanosilica, have been used to formulate water-based muds with potassium chloride (KCl-WBM). Nevertheless, the unmatched pore size of shale pores when using nanosilica fails to completely prevent shale swelling and dispersion. This study discusses the effects of KCl-WBM with sodium dodecyl sulphate-treated nanohydroxyapatite (nHAp/SDS) on shale swelling inhibition through various laboratory techniques. These techniques encompass the linear swell meter (LSM), the dynamic linear swell meter (DLSM), hot-rolling dispersion, suspension stability, and pore structure characterization of shale. The rheological and filtration characteristics of nHAp/SDS and compatibility tests were also studied, and the results were compared with those of nanosilica and KCl-WBM. At all concentrations, the performance of the nHAp/SDS test fluids surpassed that of nanosilica. When compared with KCl-WBM system at 10 cP and 25 °C, the nHAp/SDS and nanosilica concentrations increased the plastic viscosity by 20–90 % and 10–70 %, respectively. The inhibitory effect of nHAp/SDS surpasses that of conventional KCl-WBM and inorganic nanosilica. By adding 2.0 wt% nHAp/SDS to KCl-WBM, the shale swelling decreased from 10.1 to 4.7 % (a 53.4 % reduction). Nanosilica also reduced the swelling to 6.1 % (a 39.6 % reduction) during the LSM test at 25 °C. Under the DLSM test conditions, the shale swelling increased due to the activation of the clay platelet site at an increased temperature of 80 °C. For instance, between 25 and 80 °C, the DLSM test revealed that the shale plug height expanded from 6.1 to 9.8 % for 2.0 wt% nanosilica, 4.7–7.6 % for 2.0 wt% nHAp/SDS, and 10.1–18.8 % for KCl-WBM. Furthermore, the recovery rate of hot-rolled shale plugs with KCl-WBM increased from 89.8 to 96.2 % for nHAp/SDS and 76.6 to 88.8 % for nanosilica from the initial rates of 52.1–63.3 % between 65 and 120 °C. The contact angle results showed that nHAp/SDS is hydrophobic, reducing shale-water attraction. Moreover, the 12 nm nanosilica matches nanopore sizes to partially block shale pores. This research found that nHAp/SDS has the potential to improve wellbore stability.