Environmentally-friendly lubricant for oil field drilling fluid applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11472995-B2
Application number	US-201816037593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 17, 2018
Priority date	Jul 17, 2018
Publication date	Oct 18, 2022
Grant date	Oct 18, 2022

Abstract

The present application discloses water-based drilling fluid system compositions and methods for making water-based drilling fluids systems. According to one embodiment, a drilling fluid system may include a drilling fluid and a lubricant. The lubricant may be synthesized from plant-based raw material oil.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing a water-based drilling fluid system comprising:
treating a plant-based raw material oil with sodium hydroxide to produce a mixture comprising free fatty acids and glycerol;
treating the mixture with a brine to isolate the glycerol from the mixture comprising free fatty acids and glycerol;
removing the glycerol to produce a synthesized lubricant comprising free fatty acids, the free fatty acids comprising palmitic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid; and
combining the synthesized lubricant with a base drilling fluid comprising water to produce a water-based drilling fluid system; and
wherein the water-based drilling fluid system comprises:
1 wt. % synthesized lubricant based on the total weight of the water-based drilling fluid system;
4.9 wt. % CaCl 2 based on the total weight of the water-based drilling fluid system; and

wherein the water-based drilling fluid system is homogeneous.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein treating the plant-based raw material oil further comprises heating the plant-based raw material oil and the base at a temperature from about 50° C. to about 75° C.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant-based raw material oil is treated for a period of from about 4 hours to about 8 hours.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base drilling fluid additionally comprises a LSND drilling fluid, bentonite, or both.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant-based raw material oil is a waste vegetable oil.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base drilling fluid comprises one or more additives chosen from wetting agents, fluid-loss control additives, and weighting additives.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the water-based drilling fluid system comprises a viscosifier selected from the group consisting of xanthan gum polymer, bentonite, polyacrylamide, polyanionic cellulose, and a combination of two or more of these.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the free fatty acids further comprise stearic acid, arachidic acid, or both.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plant-based raw material oil comprises a vegetable oil.

10. The method of claim 4 , wherein the LSND drilling fluid comprises bentonite, caustic soda, soda ash, flocculants, or combinations thererof.

11. A method for drilling a wellbore, the method comprising:
delivering a homogeneous water-based drilling fluid system to the wellbore, where the water-based drilling fluid system comprises
1 wt. % synthesized lubricant based on the total weight of the water-based drilling fluid system, the synthesized lubricant comprising free fatty acids comprising palmitic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid;
4.9 wt. % CaCl 2 ) based on the total weight of the water-based drilling fluid system; and
a base drilling fluid comprising water; and

wherein the synthesized lubricant was derived from a plant-based raw material oil treated with sodium hydroxide.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base drilling fluid additionally comprises a LSND drilling fluid, bentonite, or both.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base drilling fluid comprises one or more additives chosen from wetting agents, fluid-loss control additives, and weighting additives.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the plant-based raw material oil comprises a vegetable oil.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the plant-based raw material oil is a waste vegetable oil.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the LSND drilling fluid comprises bentonite, caustic soda, soda ash, flocculants, or combinations thererof.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the base drilling fluid further comprises one or more additives chosen from wetting agents, fluid-loss control additives, and weighting additives.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the water-based drilling fluid system comprises a viscosifier selected from the group consisting of xanthan gum polymer, bentonite, polyacrylamide, polyanionic cellulose, and a combination of two or more of these.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the free fatty acids further comprise stearic acid, arachidic acid, or both.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Ramasamy Jothibasu
• Amanullah Md

Classifications

• C09K8/035 Primary

  Organic additives · CPC title

• C09K2208/34

  Lubricant additives · CPC title

• C09K8/22

  Synthetic organic compounds · CPC title

• C09K8/206 Primary

  Derivatives of other natural products, e.g. cellulose, starch, sugars · CPC title

• E21B21/00

  Methods or apparatus for flushing boreholes, e.g. by use of exhaust air from motor (freeing objects stuck in boreholes by flushing E21B31/03) · CPC title