Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

School

School of Engineering

First Supervisor

Stefan Iglauer

Second Supervisor

Alireza Keshavarz

Abstract

Inadequate hole cleaning often leads to challenges in drilling operations such as poor cuttings lifting that causes pipe sticking, losing tools, and difficulties in liner/casing placements. Designing a drilling mud with enhanced rheological properties that remain stable under high-temperature conditions would significantly improve the transportation efficiency of cuttings. If the drilling mud fails to perform its intended functions, issues such as fluid loss, formation damage, erosion, and pipe sticking may arise. Therefore, controlling the rheological properties such as mud density, plastic viscosity, yield point, apparent viscosity, gel strength, and fluid loss is very essential to mitigate these problems. Metal oxide nanoparticles offer an effective solution by enhancing the heat transfer properties and viscosity of the drilling mud system. The study successfully integrates nanotechnology into traditional oilfield applications and showcases novel insights towards improving the efficiency and stability of drilling fluids. The findings also indicate that the addition of zirconium dioxide/clay nanocomposite (ZCNC) to bentonite-based water-based mud (WBM) lead to improved zeta potential values and significantly enhanced the yield point and gel strength which are critical for maintaining the stability and suspension of drill cuttings. The thesis also explores the role of sodium alignate/Zirconium oxide nanoparticle for EOR applications. Studies effectively demonstrate that these suspensions exhibit desirable shear-thinning behaviour, making them suitable for EOR processes. The research further signify that these suspensions maintain stable rheological properties even at ageing at 25 deg C for seven days, establishing their robustness under operational conditions. Also, an increase in salinity (from 0.015 to 0.1 wt %) and temperature (from 25 to 50deg C) leads to progressive decrease in viscosity under variable reservoir conditions. Further investigations into the long-term stability of ZCNC formulations within the reservoir environment will be conducted in the future study.

Chapter 1 provides a general introduction, offering background information relevant to the present study and outlining its theoretical and practical dimensions. This chapter discusses the role of nanoparticles in the oil and gas industry and provides a comprehensive overview of drilling muds. It covers the composition of water-based drilling muds (WBMs), the different types of WBMs used, and the properties of these drilling muds. Chapter 2 provides a general outline of the Ph.D. thesis and presents its flowchart.

Chapter 3 details the expe1imental work conducted in the present study. Various characterization techniques, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), have been employed. Additionally, the zeta potential and rheological properties of various mud-based and nanoparticle-based formulations are discussed.

Chapter 4 investigates the synergistic effects of zirconium metal oxide nanoparticles and bentonite in enhancing heat transfer properties, as well as improving the rheological and filtrate loss characteristics under elevated pressure and temperature conditions.

Chapter 5 focuses on the physicochemical characterization of zirconia nanoparticle-based sodium alginate polymers for enhanced oil recovery.

Chapter 6 discusses the key concepts and findings presented in Chapters 4 and 5.

References are provided at the end of each chapter.

Chapter 7 presents a general conclusion on the effects of metal oxide nanoparticles in synergy with drilling muds and explores the potential applications of biopolymer-based nanoparticles in enhanced oil recovery

Chapter 8 outlines the future perspectives of the presented work.

DOI

10.25958/593a-dn10

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