The use of nano-additives in improving drilling fluid properties in order to meet the modern drilling process requirement is still being debated till date. In this study, nano bentonite and nano chemical additives are used to improve the rheological and filtration properties of drilling fluid using local and commercial bentonite. In the first part of this work, the feasibility of using Iraqi clay as a source of drilling fluid was investigated at 6, 10, 15 and 20wt% concentrations and mixed with nano commercial bentonite and nano Iraqi clay at 1, 2, 3, and 4wt% concentrations. The results showed that this addition did not improve the properties of drilling fluid and its quality in order to meet the API standards.In the second part, a commercial bentonite was used and mixed with nano commercial bentonite and nano chemical materials (MgO, TiO2, and graphene) at 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4wt% concentrations. The results showed that nano commercial bentonite gives the same filtration behavior of graphene, whereas, the plastic viscosity, yield point and apparent viscosity were the same when using nano commercial bentonite, TiO2 and graphene. The best results were obtained with MgO addition, whereby the filter loss decreased to 35% with a higher value of yield point
Drag reduction in turbulent flow may be significantly reduced by adding tiny quantities of fiber, polymer, and surfactant particles to the liquid. Different drag-reduction agents have proven to be effective in enhancing the flowability of the liquid when added. This study investigated the potential of decreasing the drag, turbulent flow, and pressure drop in horizontal pipe flow by using a mixture of modified xanthan gums (XGs). Xanthan gums are an environmentally friendly natural polymer complex. They can be extracted from xanthan gum plants and utilized to formulate different concentrations of complexes. The flowability of the xanthan gum was experimentally investigated in a 1-m-long pipe by using addition concentrations of 300 to 950 ppm, an inner diameter of 0.254 inches, and four different flow rates. The results revealed that the pressure drop was reduced considerably with an increase in the concentration of the additives. The mixture (xanthan gums plus water) resulted a favorable reduction in the pressure, which reached 65% at a concentration of 950 ppm. The results of the computational fluid dynamic simulation using the COMSOL simulator showed a change in the fluid velocity profiles, which became more parabolic. This occurred because of an increase in the mean fluid velocity due to the addition of the drag-reducing polymers.