Jatin Bansal
Dehradun Institute of Technology, India
Title: Development of oil-in-water Emulsion mud System Using Castor oil and gum Acacia with Propylene Glycol as Thermal Stabilizer.
Biography
Biography: Jatin Bansal
Abstract
Emulsion-based drilling fluids became an important class of drilling fluid system which developed significance in modern Drilling Operations. Various wellbore instability problems such as differential pipe sticking, shale swelling etc. were minimized using emulsion mud systems. But with the increase in strict environmental regulations, the use of toxic muds eg. Diesel based drilling muds were reduced.
Being toxic, the disposal of cuttings into the environment is a major issue faced by the drilling industries. To overcome this issue, an attempt has been made to develop an oil-in-water emulsion mud system using castor oil and gum acacia as an emulsifier. The effect of oil, Xanthan Gum, Starch, Salt on the rheological properties and fluid loss control property of the developed system was analyzed thoroughly. NaOH was added to the system to maintain the pH. High shale recovery performance was obtained with the system during shale recovery test. It was found that the addition of Propylene Glycol has enhanced the stability of the emulsion mud system. Hence the developed castor oil-in-water emulsion mud system has a great prospect in the development of emulsion muds desired for the drilling of oil wells.