COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF DRILLING FLUIDS WITH NANO-ADDITIVES

The relevance of this study is caused by the need for high-performance and economically viable additives to formulate drilling fluids with desirable properties for successfully conducting a drilling operation. Nanomaterials have found their applications as very unique, sensitive materials in different industries due to their tiny size and exceptionally high surface area to volume ratio. Owing to these characteristics, nanomaterials can be good candidates for improving drilling fluid performance with respect to filtration and rheological properties. However, cost as one of the most influential factors in decision-making on the selection of drilling fluid additive must be considered in the investigation of nanomaterials for practical application in drilling fluid. The main aim of this research is to evaluate the influence of two nanomaterials at four different concentrations (1 to 4 kg/m(3)), graphene nanoplates and silica nanoparticles, on the filtration properties under low pressure - low temperature and high pressure - high temperature conditions, rheological behavior, and actual cost of a field-applicable water-based drilling fluid. Besides, the technical performance and financial impact of the studied nanomaterials were compared with that of commercial additive commonly used in drilling fluids. Object: technical performance and financial impact of graphene nanoplates and silica nanoparticles in a field-applicable drilling fluid. Methods. Experimental investigation was performed in drilling fluid laboratory to determine filtration properties and rheological characteristics under low pressure - low temperature and high pressure - high temperature conditions. Results. The experimental outcomes obtained in this study demonstrated that both the rheological and the filtration properties of the drilling fluid system were improved in the presence of nanomaterials. For both conditions, filtration was reduced with an incremental increase of nanosilica and graphene nanoplates in the base fluid system. Where the sample with the highest concentration of nanosilica (4 kg/m(3)) demonstrated under low pressure - low temperature conditions - 72,2 and at high pressure - high temperature conditions - 61,1 % reduction in the volume of the filtrates when compared to the base fluid. The studied nanofluid systems with graphene nanoplates presented comparable rheology but greater fluid loss volume in compassion to that of the low-viscosity polyanionic cellulose containing fluid. As for the nanofluids containing nanosilica, the obtained results displyed only the nanofluid sample with 4 kg/m(3) outperformed the field applicable fluid containing low-viscosity polyanionic cellulose in terms of filtration by showing 34,1 and 27,3 % less fluid loss for low pressure - low temperature and high pressure - high temperature conditions respectively. The financial impact assessment provided demonstrated that the introduction of nanomaterials resulted in the enormously high actual cost, where the nanofluids cost with only 1 kg/m(3) nanographene or nanosilica was approximately two to three times higher than those of the base fluid and low-viscosity polyanionic cellulose containing fluid. The results of the study revealed that the huge cost of the studied nanomaterials is their major disadvantage, hindering them from practical application in drilling fluids industry.