On the Stability of Colloidal Gas Aphrons in the Presence of Nanoclay Particles

More recently, the application of advanced techniques to better utilize the energy resources has been under consideration. One of these energy resources is oil well. A novel drilling fluid containing specially designed Colloidal Gas Aphrons (CGAs) was recently introduced and has now been employed successfully in various parts of the word to drill through formations which previously had experienced uncontrollable losses and high incidence of differential sticking. In this work, stability of CGAs has been investigated in the presence of nanoparticles. CGAs were generated at stirring speed of 7000 rpm and stirring time of 4 min in the presence of nanoclay (Na-Montmorillonite) using anionic surfactant, Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS), and non-ionic surfactant, Nonyl Phenol Ethoxylate (NPE20). This work is an attempt to relate the findings in macroscopic CGAs observation (can be deduced from drainage curve) to the microscopic behaviour of microbubbles. A novel interpretation of drainage curve is introduced for deducing the synergetic effect of nanoclay on CGA stability. It wasfound that the presence of nanoclay has particular effects on stability of CGAs dispersion and behaviour of surface tension of aqueous nanofluid.

On the Stability of Colloidal Gas Aphrons in the Presence of Nanoclay Particles Keywords:

Surface Modification , Montmorillonite Nanoclay , NPE20 , differntial sticking , Aphron-based drilling fluids