Physico-chemical studies and development of water-based drilling fluid formulations with carbon nanotube additives

The paper offers a comprehensive experimental study on the effect of carbon nanotube additives on the features of water-based drilling fluids. A similar study for this fluid has not been carried out before. Nanotubes were used to modify the drilling fluids. Weight concentration of nanomaterials in slurries was from 0.1 to 0.5 %. The formulation of stable drilling slurries modified by carbon nanotube were developed and refined. The study is focused on investigation of rheology, filtration and antifriction properties, temperature and colloidal stability of drilling fluids modified with carbon nanotubes. It is shown that carbon nanotube additives even in small concentrations can significantly change the features of water-based drilling fluids. A comparison was made between the effects of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT and MWCNT) on the characteristics of water-based drilling fluids. The study has shown that both types of nano-additives considerably change in the properties of the base fluid. Nevertheless, it was determined that in order to achieve a comparable effect on solution properties, an order of magnitude greater amount of MWCNT additives is required in comparison to single-walled carbon nanotubes.