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This work aims to investigate the changes in the shear and oscillation responses of an ethoxylated alkylamine emulsion with the addition of acetic acid and establishes their relationships with the emulsion phase inversion. The initial emulsion behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid exhibiting shear thinning with a viscoelastic gel structure (at rest). Upon the addition of acetic acid, the emulsion first transforms to a structureless (at rest) non-Newtonian fluid with lower viscosity and worse shear thinning compared with the initial state and then converts back to a non-Newtonian fluid with a higher gel strength, higher elasticity (at rest) and better shear thinning than the initial state as the phase inversion proceeds from an oil-continuous stage to a bicontinuous stage. This regained non-Newtonian character can be maintained throughout the whole bicontinuous stage and can even extend to the beginning of the water-continuous stage which is obtained from the bicontinuous stage by increasing the acetic acid content; however, it is ultimately replaced by a structureless (at rest) non-Newtonian fluid that exhibits lower viscosity and worse shear thinning compared with the initial state as the acetic acid content increases. The establishment of relationships among the interfacial moduli and deformation, geometrical factors (i.e., interfacial curvature, droplet shape and size and positional structure) and the liquid crystal phase behaviors help to elucidate the mechanisms that control the rheological transitions of emulsions. Based on these results, a novel water-washable viscoelastic emulsion drilling fluid is proposed.

Shale hydration is the main cause of wellbore instability during drilling using water-based drilling fluids (WBD). In this work, NH2- and HO-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated for their performances on inhibiting the shale hydration, as well as their influences on the properties of WBD, using immersion and sedimentation tests, linear swelling test, hot-rolling dispersion test, rheological and filtration experiments. The mechanisms were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), zeta-potential and particle size distribution analyses, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and related theoretical analysis. Evaluation experiment results showed that the NH2-functionalized IL had the best inhibition performance, followed by poly(propylene glycol)bis(2-aminopropyl ether), HO-functionalized IL and KCl. NH2-functionality was more favorable to shale inhibition than HO-functionality. When used in WBD, ILs could prevent viscosity building-up at high temperature, but cause filtration and inhibition failure, which could be mitigated when polyanionic cellulose (PAC) was added in WBD prior to inhibitors. Three critical observations helped elucidate the inhibitive mechanisms: the intercalation of cationic groups of ILs into the clay interlayers, the decrease of both interlayer spacing and double layer thickness. The NH2-functionalized IL allowed the smallest interlayer spacing and double layer thickness and therefore performed best in inhibition. The inhibition failure in WBD with ILs depended on two aspects: the consumption of ILs untimely and the filtration failure of WBD. PAC could decrease both of ILs’ loss within WBD and water loss toward shale, mitigating the WBD’s inhibition failure. Our work will facilitate the rational design of efficient and environmentally acceptable inhibitors and their rational applications in WBD for drilling shale formation.

In this paper, the inhibition property of polyethyleneimine (PEI) in drilling fluid was studied. The inhibition property was evaluated by linear swell test and roll recovery. The addition of PEI70000 resulted in the lowest swelling height, compared with the others inhibitor. Especially PEI was environmental and friendly. The inhibition mechanism was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, Zeta potential and Surface area analyzer. The negative charge in the surface of montmorillonite (Mt) was neutralized by the positive charge of PEI. PEI was adsorbed in the surface of Mt and intercalated into the interlayer of Mt, which reduced the hydration repulsion of diffuse electric double layer and leaded to inhibit the hydration of clay. Hydrogen bonding between amino groups in PEI and hydroxyl in the surface of Mt can be formed in the process. The coordination of electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding presented water molecules from the interlayer space of Mt, which resulted from the adsorption and intercalation of PEI in the surface and interlayer space of Mt. There was an amount of nitrogen in the backbone and side of PEI, leading to more positive ion than chitosan quaternary ammonium salt (HTCC). The more positive ion resulted in the stronger force between inhibitor and clay due to the protonation of nitrogen in water. The molecular weight of PEI has great influence on inhibition property. The larger molecular weight of PEI performed the better inhibition property except for PEI1800. Indicating the molecular weight of PEI was not the sole factor to control the inhibition property. What was more, the larger molecular weight of PEI leaded to the worse water-solubility.

Clay is closely associated with the drilling of oil and gas by influencing the shale wellbore stability and the rheology of drilling fluids. In this work, four imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) were used to modify the typical clay (i.e., sodium bentonite (Na-Bent)), and their effects on the Na-Bent rheological and swelling properties were evaluated by shear rheological measurements, immersion experiment, linear swelling measurements. The mechanisms involved were identified by using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Zeta-potential and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) analysis. Evaluation experiment results showed that the adsorption of each IL could both significantly affect the Na-Bent rheological property and inhibit the Na-Bent swelling, which strongly depended on ILs' structures and concentrations. The mechanism study revealed that the cationic groups of ILs could adsorb on Na-Bent prior to water molecules, followed by expelling water and compressing the double electrode layers, and therefore inhibit the Na-Bent swelling. The adsorption of ILs could also change aggregation behaviors of the Na-Bent particles, by which the “house of cards” structures in Na-Bent dispersions were improved or destroyed, resulting in changes in rheological properties of Na-Bent dispersions.

As an important industrial material, bentonite has been widely applied in water-based drilling fluids to create mud cakes to protect boreholes. However, the common mud cake is porous, and it is difficult to reduce the filtration of a drilling fluid at high temperature. Therefore, this paper endowed bentonite with a thermo response via the insertion of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) monomers. The interaction between NIPAM monomers and bentonite was investigated via Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), isothermal adsorption, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) at various temperatures. The results demonstrate that chemical adsorption is involved in the adsorption process of NIPAM monomers on bentonite, and the adsorption of NIPAM monomers accords with the D&ndash, R model. With increasing temperature, more adsorption water was squeezed out of the composite when the temperature of the composite exceeded 70 &deg, C. Based on the composite of NIPAM and bentonite, a mud cake was prepared using low-viscosity polyanionic cellulose (Lv-PAC) and initiator potassium peroxydisulfate (KPS). The change in the plugging of the mud cake was investigated via environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), contact angle testing, filtration experiments, and linear expansion of the shale at various temperatures. In the plugging of the mud cake, a self-recovery behavior was observed with increasing temperature, and resistance was observed at 110 &deg, C. The rheology of the drilling fluid was stable in the alterative temperature zone (70&ndash, 110 &deg, C). Based on the high resistance of the basic drilling fluid, a high-density drilling fluid (&rho, = 2.0 g/cm3) was prepared with weighting materials with the objective of drilling high-temperature formations. By using a high-density drilling fluid, the hydration expansion of shale was reduced by half at 110 &deg, C in comparison with common bentonite drilling fluid. In addition, the rheology of the high-density drilling fluid tended to be stable, and a self-recovery behavior was observed.