Drilling mud, uses

Most uses of quaternary ammonium compounds can be expected to lead to these compounds eventual release into wastewater treatment systems except for those used in drilling muds, Useful properties of the quaternaries as germicides can make these compounds potentially toxic to sewer treatment systems. It appears, however, that quaternary ammonium compounds are rapidly degraded in the environment and strongly sorbed by a wide variety of materials. 

Surfactants are very important in the chemical industry, appearing in such diverse products as detergents, emulsion polymer-based adhesives, surface coatings, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, motor oils, drilling muds used in petroleum prospecting, ore flotation agents,... 

Jeffrey, G. C., Cooper, L. A., and Whipple, S. S. (1988) Downhole Hydrogen Sulfide Scavenging in Drilling Mud Using Iron Chelates, US Patent 4756836, pp. 1-4. 

A technical application cm a large scale is found in the drilling muds used in the drilling of oil wells. They always contain a certain amount of plastic clays responsible for its thixotropy (see 5b. 3, p. 360). 

Clays have layers of linked (Al, Si)04 tet-rahedra combined with layers of Mg(OH)2 or AI(0H)3- Clays are very important soil constituents and are used in pottery, ceramics, as rubber, paint, plastic and paper fillers, as adsorbents and in drilling muds. 

Polyacrylamides are used in many other oilfield appUcations. These include cement additives for fluid loss control in well cementing operations (127), viscosity control additives for drilling muds (128), and fracturing fluids (129). Copolymers [40623-73-2] of acrylamide and acrylamidomethylpropanesulfonic acid do not degrade with the high concentrations of acids used in acid fracturing. 

Petroleum and Natural Gas. Over 90% of the 428,000 t of caustic soda used in the petroleum and natural gas industry is used to process oil and gas into marketable products, especially by removing acidic contaminants. The remainder is used primarily to decrease corrosion of drilling equipment and to increase the solubiUty of drilling mud components by maintaining an alkaline pH (6). 

Welan has similar properties to xanthan gum except that it has increased viscosity at low shear rates and improved thermal stabiUty and compatibihty with calcium at alkaline pH (90). The increased thermal stabiUty has led to its use as a drilling mud viscosifter especially for high temperature weUs. The excellent compatibihty with calcium at high pH has resulted in its use in a variety of specialized cement and concrete appHcations. 

Petroleum. Apart from its use ia petrochemicals manufacture, there are a number of small, scattered uses of lime ia petroleum (qv) production. These are ia making red lime (drilling) muds, calcium-based lubricating grease, neutralization of organic sulfur compounds and waste acid effluents, water treatment ia water flooding (secondary oil recovery), and use of lime and pozzolans for cementing very deep oil wells. 

Antimicrobials. In slightly alkaline aqueous solutions, nitro alcohols are useful for the control of microorganisms, eg, in cutting fluids, cooling towers, oil-field flooding, drilling muds, etc (8—15) (see INDUSTRIAL ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS Petroleum). However, only... 

Table 1. Solid Materials Used to Increase the Density of Drilling Muds...

Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), a nonionic thickening agent, is prepared from alkali cellulose and ethylene oxide in the presence of isopropyl alcohol (46). HEC is used in drilling muds, but more commonly in completion fluids where its acid-degradable nature is advantageous. Magnesium oxide stabilizes the viscosity-building action of HEC in salt brines up to 135°C (47). HEC concentrations are ca 0.6—6 kg/m (0.2—21b/bbl). 

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