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Application of graphene oxide/titanium dioxide nanoparticle on the rheological, filtration and shale swelling characteristics in water-based mud system: experimental and full factorial design study

Shaine Mohammadali Lalji, Javed Haneef, and Saud Hashmi

Department of Petroleum Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

Received: 26 September 2023 Accepted: 8 April 2024

Abstract:

Wellbore instability because of poor rheological properties, high fluid loss volume and shale swelling is the leading challenge faced by the petroleum sector. Therefore, the success of any drilling activity is fundamentally governed by the characteristics of the drilling mud. The main scope of this study is to observe an increase in the performance of water-based mud (WBM) after the addition of synthesized GO/TiO₂ nanoparticles. In the first part, properties of WBM are analyzed after the addition of GO/TiO₂ and anatase-TiO₂ nanoparticles. Each particles as a separate entity is added in different three concentrations \(\left( {0.75, 1.5, 2.25 \;{\text{g}}} \right)\) in the WBM. In the second part, the influence of salt, polymer and synthesized nanoparticles on inhibiting the shale swelling is observed. For the first part, the results reveal that the rheological properties of all the six samples are in the API recommended window. However, plastic viscosity, yield point, gel strength (10 s/10 min), and transport index of the base mud substantially improves with the addition of GO/TiO₂ nanoparticles than anatase-TiO₂ nanoparticles. Furthermore, the GO supports TiO₂ through oxygen-bearing functional groups, which eventually improves the adsorptivity of GO/TiO₂ particles in the micro and nanopores and decreases the filtrate loss volume. Thin and compacted mud cake with lower permeability is obtain from GO/TiO₂ nanoparticles. For the second part, full factorial design of experiment technique is implemented on the shale swelling behavior. The result of this segment indicates that GO/TiO₂ nanoparticles are the most influential factor in reducing the shale swelling behavior. The shale surface becomes hydrophobic after its interaction with the GO/TiO₂ nanoparticles. Moreover, these particles are responsible for developing strong interparticle hydrogen bonds between themselves, which prevents the fluid migration into the shale pellets. On the other hand, the impact of KCl and PAC on the shale swelling is relatively small. The polymer PAC is dehydrated in the presence of monovalent cations, which impacts their performance in minimizing the shale swelling.

Keywords: Titanium dioxide; GO/TiO2; Rheological properties; Filtration properties; Full factorial design; PAC

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-024-03454-x

Chemical Papers 78 (8) 5085–5101 (2024)