Research on Nanoparticle-Enhanced Cooling Technology for Oil-Based Drilling Fluids

Drilling fluids are critical in oil and gas well drilling, particularly deep shale gas drilling. In recent years, applying nanoparticles as additives in drilling fluids has received widespread attention to address the various challenges associated with deep shale gas drilling. This study focused on the performance of three nanoparticle-enhanced oil-based drilling fluids (OBDFs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and aluminums oxide (Al2O3) in terms of improving thermal capacity and cooling efficiency. The potential of the nanoparticles to improve the thermal management capability of the drilling fluids was evaluated by measuring specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. The results showed that CNTs exhibited the most significant improvement, with thermal conductivity increasing by 7.97% and specific heat capacity by 19.38%. The rheological properties and high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) filtration performance of the nanoparticle-enhanced OBDFs were evaluated, demonstrating that CNTs and SiO2 significantly improved the rheological stability of the drilling fluids and reduced the filtration loss under high temperature conditions. When 3% CNTs were added, the HTHP filtration loss was reduced by 42.86%, exhibiting excellent sealing properties. The cooling effect of different nanoparticles was evaluated by calculating their effects on the bottomhole temperature. The results showed that CNTs performed the best in lowering the bottomhole temperature by 4.53 °C, followed by SiO2 by 1.47 °C and Al2O3 by only 0.88 °C. The results showed that CNTs were the most effective in lowering the bottomhole temperature. These results indicated that nanoparticles as additives to drilling fluids could significantly increase the thermal capacity and cooling efficiency of OBDFs, making them effective additives for high-temperature deep shale gas drilling applications. © 2024 by the authors.