Ether-Based Muds Show Promise for Replacing Some Oil-Based Muds

摘要

Two different polyethers were evaluated for their potential use in drilling fluids as a base fluid for synthetic ether-based mud, which is one type of synthetic-based drilling fluid that are used when drilling for oil and gas by a rotary method and they have several technological and environmental advantages over oil-based mud. Polyglycerol or polytriethanolamine, which derive from the condensation reaction of glycerol or triethanolamine was used as a base fluid in the formulation of ether-based mud in comparison with oil based mud. The evaluation includes the study of rheology, filtration properties, electrical stability, and thermal stability for oil-based mud and synthetic ether-based mud, which are formulated of polyglycerol or polytriethanolamine. The result show that the tested synthetic ether-based mud are more viscous at low temperature, thin more with increasing temperature, and have high thermal stability than oil-based mud. Biodegradation of the mud formulated with polyglycerol or polytriethanolamine was also studied.