Underground Infrastructure - February 2023 - 31

Example Study: Smart Spacer Fluid Modified
with Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Cleaning
Bentonite Clay Contamination
Real-time monitoring of the performance of materials used in
oil, gas and water vertical wells construction and horizontal
direction drilling (HDD), for installing pipelines are gaining
importance over time.
With increasing demand for installation of various oil and
gas pipelines, the industry is forced to drill to greater depths,
reaching about 30,000 feet. Advancements in integrating vertical
drilling with horizontal drilling have enabled the oil and gas
industry to expand to many inaccessible areas around the world.
In the construction of an oil well, first, a wellbore is drilled,
and a metal casing is placed inside of it. Spacer fluid is pushed
inside through the casing out into the annulus for cleaning the
casing of any drilling fluids residue. Spacer fluids have been
primarily developed to separate the cement slurry from the
drilling fluid because contamination affects the cementing operation
and long-term stability of the cemented wells.
In HDD, the boreholes have to be cleaned during installation
of the pipelines. Critical issues to consider are effective removal
of the drilling fluids and associated residues from the wellbore
prior to the completion of wells and installing the pipelines.
The quality of the cementing job strongly depends on the
cleaning efficiency of the spacer fluid in removing, not only the
drilling fluid with the cuttings, but also the filter cakes during
the drilling operation. Based on the application, different types
of spacer fluids are used with varying material properties, such
as density, rheology and cleaning efficiency.
Cleaning efficiency of spacer fluids currently cannot be
obtained in the field and, hence, needs more reliable methods
for real-time monitoring. New parameters have to be
investigated to quantify the cleaning efficiency and its performance
in the field.
Selecting the proper spacer fluid is typically important and
is dependent on the chemistry of the drilling fluid, its composition
and conditions of the drilled holes. Spacer fluids play
a crucial role in proper displacement of the drilling mud and
removal of the filter cake developed along the drilled holes.
Various types of spacer systems are available in the oil and
gas industry but may not be suitable for changing geological
conditions along the drilled holes. Generally, a spacer fluid is
composed of the following components:
* Water/oil as the base fluid
* Weighting materials to increase the density
* Rheological modification agent or polymers
* Proper surfactant package
Using these components makes the spacer density and
CIGMAT 2023: March 3, Hilton Hotel
at University of Houston
CIGMAT organizes an annual Conference and Exhibition, held on the first
Friday in March, titled " Infrastructures, Energy, Geotechnical, Flooding and
Sustainability Issues Related to Houston and Other Major Cities. " Speakers
are invited from major cities, transportation authorities and energy industries
around the country to present and discuss projects and problems
related to construction, maintenance and rehabilitation issues.
The well-attended conference also covers technical issues related
to maintenance and rehabilitation of water and wastewater systems,
non-destructive testing methods, oil wells and pipelines, hydraulic
fracturing and development of smart materials for various applications. A
number of geotechnical topics related to expansive clays, rapid construction
of deep foundations and ground faulting are also discussed.
Proceedings of the past 22 years of conferences are posted on the
CIGMAT website: cigmat.cive.uh.edu UI
rheological properties fall in-between the density and rheological
profile of drilling fluid and cement.
In recent years, operators are exploring and producing from
increasingly more difficult environments. Fluid displacements
in offshore environments require spacer fluids to perform more
than one operation effectively at low and high temperatures encountered
in the well.
In each of these cases a novel design is needed to adjust for
different conditions. Use of nanoparticles in a spacer system
can provide enhancements in rheological, thermal, mechanical,
magnetic and optical profiles.
Nanoparticles with noticeable alterations in the optical,
magnetic field strength and electrical properties are excellent
tools for the development of sensors and the formation of imaging
contrast. Since the nanoparticles are extremely small in size,
they are preferred because their abrasive forces are negligible,
with less kinetic energy impact.
The overall objective of this study was to develop and characterize
highly sensing smart spacer fluid with nanoFe2
O3
for
insitu electrical sensing and property modifications, under application
of different pressures.
Specifically, the objectives were to:
* Design spacer fluid with higher cleaning efficiency (>95%) of
oil-based drilling fluid contamination using iron nanoparticles
and investigate the effects of magnetic field and temperature
on the sensing and rheology property modifications.
* Characterize the spacer fluid to identify the critical
electrical property for real-time monitoring.
* Model the rheological and cleaning efficiency of the
spacer fluids using Vipulanandan Models.
UndergroundInfrastructure.com | FEBRUARY 2023 31
http://cigmat.cive.uh.edu http://www.UndergroundInfrastructure.com
Underground Infrastructure - February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Infrastructure - February 2023
