EFFECT OF FLY ASH ON THE RHEOLOGICAL AND FILTRATION PROPERTIES OF WATER BASED DRILLING FLUIDS

Vikas Mahto, Rajat Jain

Abstract: An experimental investigation was carried out to study the effect of fly ash on the rheological and filtration properties of water based drilling fluids with the objective of the development of environmentally acceptable non-damaging and inhibitive drilling fluid system to drill sensitive formations. Initially, different drilling fluids combinations were prepared using carboxy methyl cellulose (low viscosity grade), polyanionic cellulose, xanthan gum, and potassium chloride. The rheological properties as well as filtration properties of these drilling fluids were measured by API recommended methods. These drilling fluids show very good rheological behavior but poor filtration loss characteristics. When fly ash was added in these drilling fluid combinations, a nanoparticles fluid system was established which has better control on filtration properties without affecting the rheological properties and has good potential for the drilling of sensitive formations

Keywords: Filtrate Loss Properties, Rheological Properties, Wellbore Instability, Inhibitive Drilling Fluid, Nanoparticles, Shale

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0208025