Cellulose Nanocrystals and Polyanionic Cellulose as Additives in Bentonite Water-Based Drilling Fluids: Rheological Modeling and Filtration Mechanisms

TLDR

The study develops low‑cost, sustainable, high‑performance water‑based drilling fluids from bentonite, polyanionic cellulose, and cellulose nanocrystals. They investigated how varying concentrations of bentonite, PAC, and CNCs influence rheological and filtration properties and fitted eight empirical rheological models to the data. PAC, CNCs, and BT improved rheology and filtration; the Sisko model best simulated the behavior, CNCs had a greater rheological impact, PAC enhanced filtration, and their combination produced superior properties with very low‑permeability filter cakes.

Abstract

This research aims to develop low cost, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and high performance water-based drilling fluids (WDFs) using bentonite (BT), polyanionic cellulose (PAC), and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The effect of concentration of BT, PAC, and CNCs on the rheological and filtration properties of PAC/CNC/BT-WDFs was investigated. Eight empirical rheological models were applied to fit quantitatively the fluid properties. Results showed that the presence of PAC, CNCs, and BT improved the rheological and filtration properties of the WDFs. Among the eight empirical rheological models, the Sisko model performed the best in simulating the rheological behavior of the fluids. At the same concentration level of PAC and CNCs, CNCs had more impact on the rheological properties, whereas PAC had more influence on the filtration property. The incorporation of PAC resulted in very low permeable filter cakes, leading to the excellent filtration property. The combined use of PAC and CNCs yielded better rheological and filtration properties.