Filtration control

Low Solids/Nondispersed. Fresh water, clay, and polymers for viscosity enhancement and filtration control make up low sohd/nondispersed muds. Low soflds muds are maintained using minimal amounts of clay and require removal of all but modest quantities of drill soflds. These are called nondispersed systems because no additives are used to further disperse or deflocculate the viscosity building clays. Most water-based muds are considered dispersed because deflocculating additives are used to control the flow properties. 

CMC/PAC sodium carboxy-methyl cellulose anionic 140 filtration control, viscosity builder sensitive to salinity, multivalent ions... 

Lignite, generally leonardite, and lignite derivatives are appHed in water-based muds as thinners and filtration control agents. Leonardite is an oxidized lignite having a high content of humic acids, which may be described as carboxylated phenoHc polymers (59,60). Litde is known about the chemical stmcture. 

Hydrating bentonite in fresh water before adding it to the mud greatly increases its efficiency when the makeup water is contaminated with salt and/or hardness. Prehydrated bentonite can be protected from dehydration by flgnosulfonate (70) or sulfomethylated tannin when used in saturated salt water. Salt water clays, such as sepioflte and attapulgite, provide no filtration control and are normally used with suitable filtration control agents. 

Starches, used first in the late 1930s for filtration control (71), are stiU in use in the 1990s. Com starch is most commonly used in the United States. Potato starch is also used in the United States but primarily in Europe and elsewhere. Both com and potato starches are pregelatinized before dispersion in water (72). The API specifications for drilling fluid starch are listed in Table 8 (73). 

Although not designed to control filtration, HEC may be effective as a filtration control agent in combination with other organic polymers in waters having salinities up to saturation. 

Acrylate and acrylamide polymers have several uses in drilling fluids, one of which is for filtration control. Sodium polyacrylates [9003-04-7] having molecular weights near 250,000 are exceUent temperature-stable filtration control agents for both fresh- and salt water muds, provided the concentration of water-soluble calcium is <400 mg/L (83). The calcium ions are precipitated using a carbonate such as soda ash, before adding the polyacrylate at concentrations up to ca 6 kg/m (3 Ib/bbl). 

A number of synthetic polymers having the abHity to control filtration rates at high temperature and in the presence of calcium and magnesium have also been developed (88). Such materials include vinyl sulfonate—vinyl amide copolymers (89,90), a copolymer of AMPS and A/,A/-dialkyl (meth) acrylamide (91) and a sulfonated hydroxylated polymer (92). AppHcation levels for these materials range from 5 to 18 kg/m (2—6 lb /bbl). Sulfonated asphalt is also used for high temperature filtration control. 

Solids present in oil and synthetic muds must be kept wet with the nonaqueous phase to prevent coagulation and settling and mud instabiUty. Oil-wetting agents are normally incorporated in the basic mud package. These materials are typically amines or quaternary ammonium salts having hydrocarbon chains of 10 or more carbon atoms. They also render clays or lignites oil-wet for use in viscosity and filtration control (128). 

Quebracho-treated freshwater muds were used in drilling at shallow depths. The name of red mud comes from the deep red color imparted to the mud by quebracho. Muds treated with a mixture of lignite and quebracho, or a mixture of alkaline organic polyphosphate chemicals (alkaline-tannate treated muds), are also included in the quebracho treated muds. The quebracho thinners are very effective at low concentrations, and offer good viscosity and filtration control. The pH of red" muds should be 8.5 to 10 mud temperature should be lower than 230°F. 

Seawater muds are composed of bentonite, thinner (lignosulfonate or lignosulfonate and lignite), and an organic filtration control agent. The typical formulation of a seawater mud is 3.5 Ib/bbl of alkali (2 Ib/bbl caustic soda and 1.5 Ib/bbl lime), 8 to 12 Ib/bbl of lignosulfonate, and 2 to 4 Ib/bbl of bentonite to maintain viscosity and filtration. Another approach is to use bentonite/thinner (ligno-sulfonate)/freshwater premix, and mix it with seawater that has been treated for hardness. This technique will be discussed in the saturated saltwater muds section. 

A modified saturated saltwater mud is prepared with bentonite clay by a special technique. First, bentonite is hydrated in freshwater, then treated with lignosulfonate and caustic soda. This premix is then mixed with saltwater (one-part premix to three-part saltwater). The mixture builds up a satisfactory viscosity and develops filtration control. Thinning of the mud is accomplished by saltwater dilutions additional premix is required for viscosity and water loss control. 

Solids can be classified as those required for drilling and those detrimental to the drilling operation. Required solids are viscosifers (bentonite), filtration control agents, and weighting materials (barite). Viscosifers and filtration control agents are usually colloidal in size, i.e., smaller than 2 pm—Table 4-56 [29]. 

Brine-polymer systems are composed of water-salt solutions with polymers added as viscosifers or filtration control agents. If fluid loss control is desired, bridging material must be added to build a stable, low permeability bridge that will prevent colloidal partial movement into the formation. 

The polymers used for completion and workover fluids may be either natural or synthetic polymers. Guar gum is a natural polymer that swells on contact with water and thus provides viscosity and filtration control it is used in concentrations of 1 to 3 Ib/bbl. Guar gum forms a filter cake that may create... 

Filtration control additives are added to cement slurries for the same reason that they are added to drilling muds. However, untreated cement slurries have... 

Examples of filtration control additives are latex, bentonite with a dispersant and other various organic compounds and polymers. 

Seawater muds are composed of bentonite, thinner (lignosulfonate or ligno-sulfonate with lignite), and an organic filtration control agent. 

Polydrill is a sulfonated polymer for filtration control in water-based drilling fluids [1775]. Tests demonstrated the product s thermal stability up to 200° C and its outstanding electrolyte tolerance. Polydrill can be used in NaCl-saturated drilling fluids as well as in muds containing 75,000 ppm of calcium or 100,000 ppm of magnesium. A combination of starch with Poly drill was used successfully in drilling several wells. The deepest hole was drilled with 11 to 22 kg/m of pregelatinized starch and 2.5 to 5.5 kg/m of Polydrill to a depth of 4800 m. Field experience with the calcium-tolerant starch/Polydrill system useful up to 145° C has been discussed in detail [1774]. 

Filtration control additives are added to cements for the same reason they are used in drilling fluids. Untreated cement slurries, however, have much greater filtration rates than do untreated drilling muds. Therefore it is very important to limit the loss of water from a slurry into a permeable formation. This is... 

However, the mechanism of action of filtration control additives is not yet completely understood. Examples are bentonite, latex, various organic polymers, and copolymers. Many additives for fluid loss are water-soluble polymers. Vinyl sulfonate fluid loss additives based on the 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) monomer are in common use in field cementing operations [363]. The copolymerization of AMPS with conjugate monomers yields a fluid loss agent whose properties include minimal retardation, salt tolerance, high efficiency, thermal stability, and excellent solids support. 

A dispersant that can be used in drilling fluids, spacer fluids, cement slurries, completion fluids, and mixtures of drilling fluids and cement slurries controls the rheologic properties of and enhances the filtrate control in these fluids. The dispersant consists of polymers derived from monomeric residues, including low-molecular-weight olefins that may be sulfonated or phosphonated, unsaturated dicarboxylic acids, ethylenically unsaturated anhydrides, unsaturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids, vinyl alcohols and diols, and sulfonated or phosphonated styrene. The sulfonic acid, phosphonic acid, and carboxylic acid groups on the polymers may be present in neutralized form as alkali metal or ammonium salts [192,193]. 

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