Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 172 (2019) 1226–1234

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Experimental investigation of the effects of silica nanoparticle on hole T

cleaning efficiency of water-based drilling mud
Afeez O. Gbadamosi, Radzuan Junin∗, Yassir Abdalla, Augustine Agi, Jeffrey O. Oseh
Department of Petroleum Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Effective cuttings transports and hole cleaning is crucial for obtaining an efficient drilling operation. Recently,
Water-based mud the use of nanotechnology have been exploited to improve rheological and filtration properties of water-based
Drilling fluid mud. Herein, water-based mud (WBM) was formulated with nanosilica to enhance cuttings and solid particles
Cuttings transports transports from the wellbore to the surface. Different weight percent concentrations of nanosilica (0.001–1.5 wt
Nanotechnology
%) at three different flow rates in litres/seconds (0.4, 0.6 and 1.0) and cuttings sizes (small, medium and large)
Cuttings sizes
Nanosilica
were used to investigate the formulated water-based mud lifting capacity of the drilled cuttings. Experimental
results show that addition of the nanosilica concentrations to the WBM enhances the viscosity, thereby in-
creasing the muds carrying and circulating capacity. Moreover, nanosilica water-based mud (n-WBM) displays
improved mud stability with high propensity to prevent intrusion of formation fluids. The effect of cuttings size
on the wellbore cleaning is minimal. The large cuttings size shows a lower degree of cuttings transportation
compared with the small and medium cutting size. Accordingly, the small cuttings size has higher cuttings
recovery to the surface. Finally, though increase in flow rate leads to more cuttings recovery, there is every
tendency that much fluid flow rate will cause an increase in frictional pressure losses and equivalent circulating
density, high pump pressure requirement and potential hole erosion.

1. Introduction
In rotary drilling operations, drilling fluids carries and circulates
drilled cuttings from the wellbore through the annulus to the surface
facilities. Two major types of drilling fluids utilised during drilling
operations are Water-based mud and Oil-based mud. Though oil-based
muds have been found to have a higher efficiency especially when
drilling high temperature high pressure (HTHP) wells, however, their
effluents are considered toxic to the environments and increases the
overall cost of the drilling operations (Sulaimon et al., 2017; Agwu
et al., 2015). In stark contrast, water-based muds are environmentally
benign and can be tailored for specific purposes. Their efficiency are
improved by adding specific additives to deliver improved lubricity,
shale stability, clay and cuttings inhibition and high rate of penetration,
while minimizing the bit accretion and also reducing the downhole
torque problems (Cripps et al., 1998; Gentzis et al., 2009; Marsh, 2003).
For an efficient drilling operation, there is the need for effective
cuttings transports by the drilling fluid. The process of cuttings trans-
ports is dictated by several interrelated mud and drilling parameters
such as: cuttings size, cuttings density and mud weight, hole size and
angle, rheology of circulation mud, rate of penetration (ROP), cuttings
transport ratio (CTR) (Egbue, 2017). Hitherto, drilling personnel en-
sures efficient cuttings transports by either increasing the flow rate or
effective viscosity of the drilling fluid (Werner et al., 2017). Though,
this improves the cleaning action beneath the bit, however, it leads to
reduction in the penetration rate (Onuoha et al., 2015). This is because
variation of the fluid velocity from zero at the wall to maximum at a
point between the pipe outer wall and the wall of the wellbore occurs as
the fluid and drilled cuttings are being transported in the annulus.
Besides, the rotation of the drill pipe impacts centrifugal force on the
drilled cuttings, which affects their relative location in the annulus due
to the complexity of this flow behaviour, thereby, resulting in in-
efficient cuttings transports (Azar and Sanchez, 1997). Consequently,
this results in numerous problems such as; stuck pipe, excessive torque
and frictional drag, and difficulty in casing landing. Problems asso-
ciated with cuttings transports needs to be avoided to save time, energy
and operational costs (Bayat et al., 2018).
Recently, nanotechnology have been applied in the oil and gas in-
dustry to solve different industrial problems ranging from enhanced oil
recovery (EOR), flow assurance, and more importantly drilling opera-
tions (Agi et al., 2018; Franco et al., 2017; Gbadamosi et al., 2018;
Yekeen et al., 2018). The application of nanoparticles as additives in

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: r-radzuan@utm.my (R. Junin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2018.09.097
Received 19 June 2018; Received in revised form 27 September 2018; Accepted 29 September 2018
Available online 02 October 2018
0920-4105/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.
A.O. Gbadamosi et al.
drilling fluids has shown promising solutions to inherent drilling fluids
problem (Afolabi et al., 2018, 2017; Smith et al., 2018). Due to the
ultrafine size and high surface area to volume ratio of nanoparticles,
mud engineers are able to adjust the drilling fluid rheology by mod-
ifying the composition, type or size distribution in drilling fluids to
accommodate any special situation when nanoparticles are used as
additives (Smith et al., 2018). Besides, due to the low cost and avail-
ability in large quantities, the use of nanoparticles in drilling fluids has
offered tremendous technical and economic benefits (Abdo et al., 2014;
Abdo and Haneef, 2013; Abdou et al., 2013). Nanoparticles application
offers benefits such as reduction in filtration loss and friction coeffi-
cient, improvement of drilling fluids rheological properties, inhibition
of gas hydrates and improvement of shale stability when used as ad-
ditives in drilling fluid (Al-Yasiri and Al-Sallami, 2015; Ragab and
Noah, 2014; Noah et al., 2017a,b). Research has also shown the ap-
plication of nanoparticles for use in high pressure high temperature
(HPHT) wells, because it increases the yield point and electrical stabi-
lity as well as declining fluid loss (Rafati et al., 2018).
Several experimental investigations have analysed nano-SiO2 as a
drilling fluid additive because Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles are highly
stable, highly efficient, and can work effectively in the presence of other
molecules (Aftab et al., 2017, 2016; Jagwani et al., 2011; Kamatchi and
Venkatachalapathy, 2015; Steiger et al., 2015). Previous applications of
SiO2 nanoparticles as water-based mud additive focused on modifica-
tion of rheological properties, reduction of filtration loss, friction re-
duction, shale and hydrate inhibition, and improvement of heat
transfer. Whereas, their application for wellbore cleaning and most
especially cuttings transports is elusive in literature and remains un-
clear. Therefore, in this study, WBM containing SiO2 nanoparticle ad-
ditive was formulated and tested for their ability to enhance the mud
performance in lifting drilled cuttings out of the hole to the surface
during drilling operations. To investigate the cuttings transports effects
of the nanoparticle on WBM, different concentrations of nano-SiO2 used
were varied between 0.001 and 1.5 wt%, at different flow rates of 0.4,
0.6 and 1.0 (L/s) with the cutting sizes of small, medium and large. In
addition to improving cutting transport efficiency, the nano-SiO2 WBM
was found to enhance stability against deposition since surface force
easily balances the gravity force.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Potassium chloride (KCl), polyanionic cellulose (PAC), and barite
were provided by Scomi oiltools. Caustic soda and soda ash were pur-
chased from Merck. Silica (SiO2) nanoparticle was purchased from Sky
Spring Nanomaterial Inc., Houston, TX., USA. All materials were used
as received without further modification and purification.
2.2. Preparation of drilling mud
Prior to the simulated hole cleaning experiment, conventional
water-based mud (WBM) and water-based mud containing nanosilica
(n-WBM) were prepared to determine their rheological properties for
cuttings transports application according to API standard for field
testing of WBM (API RP 13B-1, 2009). Caustic soda of 0.15 g was in-
troduced into 350 ml freshwater and mixed thoroughly for 4 min with
20N IKA Rw mixer. Potassium chloride (KCl) of 25 g was introduced
into the solution and mixed for 6 min. Thereafter, 15 g of bentonite,
1.5 g of polyanionic cellulose (PAC), and 0.25 g of soda ash were in-
troduced into the solution consecutively and mixed at 5 min interval
respectively. Subsequently, 195 g of barite was introduced into the so-
lution and mixed for 30 min (see Table 1). Finally, a 1:1 of SiO2 na-
noparticle was added into 50 ml reagent bottle containing 30 ml
freshwater at different concentrations and sonicated for additional
25 min. The pH of the solutions was attuned and sustained at 8.5–9.0,
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 172 (2019) 1226–1234
and the mud density was maintained at 10 ppg. A mud tank with a
capacity of 190 litres with dimension of 24 in. diameter and 26 in.
height was used. A stirrer was installed to ensure proper mud mixing.
The stirrer was driven by 0.25 hp (0.18 kW) electric motor of 1350 rpm.
The tank was opened from its top and it was equipped with a calibrating
container. A plastic sieve with size of 0.8 mm was used to sieve the
drilled cuttings from the circulating drilling mud before allowing the
mud back into the system.
2.3. Rheological properties determination
The rheological properties such as apparent viscosity (AV), effective
viscosity (μe), plastic viscosity (PV) , and yield point (YP) of each mud
sample were measured using Faan Viscometer. The viscometer mea-
sures the shear rates of the drilling muds at six different dial readings of
600, 300, 200, 100, 6, and 3 revolutions per min (rpm). Dial readings
were performed thrice for repeatability, and the average values were
reported. AV, PV, μe , YP, and 10 s and 10 min gel strength (GS) were
determined from the Bingham plastic fluid model described by
Equations (1)–(4):
PV(cP )= θ600 − θ300 (1)
YP(cP )= θ300 − PV (2)
θ600
AV (cP ) =
2 (3)
θ
μe = 300 ×
ω (4)
Where, θ300 = dial reading at 300 rpm, and θ600 = dial reading at
600 rpm, PV = plastic viscosity, AV = apparent viscosity, and
YP = yield point. The 10 s and 10 min gel strength (Gs ) measures the
drilling muds ability to suspend drilled cuttings.
The power law model was used to characterise the fluid flow be-
haviour. The flow behaviour index ‘n’ and the fluid consistency index
‘K’ were obtained from the relationship between shear-stress and shear-
rate from the viscometer dial reading at θ600 and θ300 from Equations
(7) and (8). Prior to that, the dial readings obtained as well as rotor
speed values were respectively converted to shear stress (τ) and shear
rate values (γ) using Equations (5) and (6):
lb ⎞
τ⎛ = 1.067 × θ
⎝ 100ft2 ⎠ (5)
γ (1/ s ) = 1.704 × ω (6)
θ600
n = 3.23 × log
θ300 (7)
lb ⎞ τ θ
K⎛ = n = 600n
⎝ 100ft2 ⎠ γ 1022 (8)
Where θ (lb/100 ft ) indicates the dial reading, and 1.067 is the geo-
2
metry factor of the viscometer, ω represents the viscometer (rotor)
speed (rpm) and 1.704 is the factor derived from the sleeve and bob
geometry of the viscometer.
2.4. API and HPHT filtrates loss
The determination of API filtrate loss volume was measured at 100
psi and at room temperature for 30 min. The filtrates loss volumes were
taken for each sample at every 5 min and the filter cake thickness were
estimated. The HPHT filtration properties at 500 psi differential pres-
sure (100 psi back pressure and 600 psi-controlled pressure) and 250 °F
were estimated by HPHT filter press. The filtrates loss volume was
taken at a fixed time interval and the test was terminated after 30 min.
The deposited filter cake on the filter paper was then carefully sieved
and measured.
A.O. Gbadamosi et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 172 (2019) 1226–1234

Table 1
Formulation of conventional WBM and synthesized silica nanoparticle drilling mud system.
Additives WBM Silica nanoparticle water-based mud (n-WBM, wt. %)

Fresh water, ml 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350
NaOH, g 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13
KCl, g 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
Bentonite, g 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
PAC, g 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Na2CO3 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
BaSO4, g 195 195 195 195 195 195 195 195 195 195 195
n-WBM, wt. % 0 0.001 0.003 0.005 0.01 0.03 0.5 0.1 0.5 1.0 1.5

valves functions to divert the flow of the drilling mud into the flow line
where drilled cuttings were injected. These control valves were opened
as soon as the experiment was initiated after achieving a steady flow
rate. Valves were arranged to ensure smooth injection of cuttings into
the system and placement of cuttings in front of the flow stream. Valve
arrangement permits isolation and connection of cuttings trap from the
circulation system and to divert the fluid flow behind the injected
cuttings.

2.6. Cuttings transports flow loop setup

Laboratory-scale wellbore flow loop set-up was fabricated to simu-

Fig. 1. (a) Sieve shaker, and (b) Preparation of different cutting sizes.
2.5. Cuttings preparation and injection system
The drilled cuttings were prepared according to the required size
and density prior to their addition into the flow loop. To replicate an
actual field cuttings transports stimulation, different cuttings sizes were
used for the experiment. This cuttings size was grouped into three:
small, medium and large. In preparing the cuttings samples, the sand
particles were washed, cleaned and dried in an oven. Thereafter, a sieve
shaker (see Fig. 1a) was used to sieve the sand samples to obtain the
desired three different sizes. The size ranges for the cuttings were
1.0–1.4 mm for small cuttings, 1.7 mm–2.0 mm for medium cuttings
and 2.4–2.8 mm for large cuttings. The sieved sands were weighed
using an electronic balance, separated and sealed in a transparent
plastic bag (see Fig. 1b). The density of the sand cuttings determined
was 2.66 g/cc. Cuttings injection system is used to inject the drilled
cuttings into the circulating drilling mud before allowing the flow of
fluid into the test section. Two control valves as shown in Fig. 2 were
used to separate the injection system from main flow line. The control
late the drilled cuttings inside the vertical annulus by assessing the
effects of different flowrates, fluid viscosity and cuttings size on the
drilled cuttings removal to the surface. Prior to the cuttings transports
flow loop experiments, the lab-scale flow loop was tested thrice to
ensure each section could function smoothly to obtain reliable data. The
schematic of the flow loop is shown in Fig. 3. The annulus flow section
of this flow loop was designed with the aim of simulating the actual
field conditions while drilling a vertical well. The test section consists of
3.35 m (11 ft) long transparent acrylic outer pipe with dimensions of
50 mm OD and 45.6 mm ID. The inner pipe consists of a polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) with a dimension of 12.6 mm OD, and was kept sta-
tionary inside the outer pipe without rotation throughout the experi-
ments. The inner pipe was sealed at both ends to prevent mud intrusion.
The inner pipe was supported inside the acrylic outer pipe to a fixed
concentric position. A two-horse power centrifugal pump was used to
circulate the drilling fluid inside the annulus transport section. An
electric induction motor, one-horse power and 3 phase input current,
complete with a frequency inverter was attached to the inner pipe. The
flow loop was designed with a supporting system to support the vertical
drill-pipe and with a supplying and cooling system. The flow loop ca-
pacity was sufficient to achieve steady flow rates. The flow rates used in
the experiment were 0.4 L/s, 0.6 L/s and 1.0 L/s. Inside the flow loop,
was a cuttings injection system where drilled cuttings are injected and
an ultrasonic flow meter to measure the annulus fluid velocity.

2.7. Hole cleaning experiment

The experiment was conducted using the lab-scale flow loop at

Fig. 2. Cuttings injection system.
ambient temperature and pressure. The procedure of the test was de-
signed specifically to investigate the improvement of cuttings lifting
efficiency using n-WBM in a vertical well. Throughout the experiment,
mud flow rates, cuttings size and concentrations of nano-SiO2 were the
varied parameters while mud density and pipe eccentricity were kept
constant. Prior to the experiment, the entire transport column including
test section was cleaned using water to ensure that impurities are re-
moved. Thereafter, 80 litres of drilling mud were prepared in the mud
tank and mixed for 12 h to achieve a homogeneous state. For n-WBM,
SiO2 nanoparticles were added into the drilling mud at a desired
amount and then were pumped through the piping column. After the
desired flow rate of 0.4 L/s was steadily achieved, the end cap was
tightly sealed. Subsequently, the valves were adjusted to divert the mud

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Fig. 3. Schematic of cuttings transports flow loop.

flow and to flush any sand particles before allowing drilled cuttings to Table 2
be injected into the annulus through the cuttings injector. When all the Bingham plastic model for conventional WBM.
cuttings have been injected, the timer was switched on and reading Conventional WBM
starts, and after 6 min of flow, the timer was switched off to recover the
cuttings sieved by the sieve shaker. The sieved cuttings were collected, Raw data Interpretation
washed, dried and weighed to calculate the Cuttings Transports Ratio
Rotor speed, ω Dial readings, θ Shear-rate, γ Shear-Stress, τ μ e (cP)
(CTR) using Equation (9). Lastly, the flow loop was flushed with mud at
(rpm) (lb/100 ft2) (1/secs) (lb/100 ft2)
high flow rate for 10 min to clean out all the residual cuttings before
starting another experiment. The procedure used for 0.4 L/s above was 3 2.2 5.11 2.347 220
repeated for 0.6 L/s and 1.0 L/s flow rates respectively at different 6 3.6 10.22 3.841 180
100 14.4 170.3 15.36 43.2
cuttings sizes (small, medium and large).
200 16.7 340.6 17.82 25.1
Cuttings added in grams 300 17.0 511.0 18.14 17.0
CTR (%) = × 100 600 24.0 1022.0 28.81 12.0
Cuttings removed in grams (9)

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of nano-SiO2 on the rheological properties of the drilling mud
3.1.1. Plastic viscosity
Tables 2 and 3 show the obtained results of mud properties mea-
surements from viscometer dial readings for both conventional WBM
and n-WBM. As depicted in Table 3, the addition of nano-SiO2 resulted
to increased values of the rheological properties of WBM. The improved
rheological properties owes to the ability of nano-SiO2 to be effectively
dispersed and distributed in the conventional WBM containing bento-
nite particles (Elochukwu et al., 2017). Hence, they enhance the ap-
parent viscosity of water that is inherent in the continuous phase of
drillings fluids (Rafati et al., 2018). The plastic viscosity of n-WBM
increases as concentrations of nano-SiO2 added into the WBM increases.
Even though the increment is infinitesimal, the plastic viscosity
(9.0–23.8 cP) obtained in this study for 0.001–1.5 wt% concentrations
of nano-SiO2 in n-WBM was found to be consistent with literature.
Paswan et al. (2016) stated that a fairly low plastic viscosity is required
to obtain an improved cuttings lifting efficiency while drilling. Simi-
larly, Aftab et al. (2016) reported that the plastic viscosity of drilling
muds containing nanoparticles should be in the range of 18–29 cP at
room temperature for the mud to be effectively circulated without
prompting too much pressure loss due to friction. This is because mud
viscosities rise automatically when it is in contact with drilled cuttings.
Thus, a high thick mud may not be required when nano-SiO2 is added
into the conventional WBM.
3.1.2. Apparent viscosity
The apparent viscosity of drilling mud must be capable of exhibiting
shear-thinning behaviour with increasing shear-rates for effective cut-
tings transports to the surface (Elochukwu et al., 2017). For n-WBM
measurements reported in Table 3, the formulated mud sample ex-
hibited pseudoplastic behaviour in shear-stress viscometer dial read-
ings. Increasing values of shear-rate led to decrease of apparent visc-
osities values for the n-WBM mud samples. This shear-thinning

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Table 3
Bingham plastic model for conventional WBM and n-WBM.
Properties Mud samples tested

WBM Concentrations of nanosilica (% v/v)

0 0.001 0.003 0.005 0.01 0.03 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0 1.5

Ɵ300 (lb/1000 ft2) 17.0 20.0 21.0 26.0 28.8 29.5 34.8 43.6 48.0 55.0 60.3
600 (lb/1000 ft2) 24.0 29.0 31.0 38.0 42.6 43.5 51.3 63.0 70.0 78.8 84.1
PV (cP) 7.0 9.0 10.0 12.0 13.8 14.0 16.5 19.4 22.0 23.8 23.8
AV (cP) 12.0 14.5 16.5 19.0 21.3 21.8 25.7 31.5 35.0 39.4 42.1
YP (lb/100 ft2) 10.0 11.0 11.0 14.0 15.0 15.5 18.3 24.2 26.0 31.2 36.5
YP/PV 1.43 1.0 1.30 1.17 1.09 1.11 1.11 1.25 1.18 1.31 1.53
GS @ 10 s 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0
GS @ 10 min 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 9.0
AFL (ml) 9.6 7.7 7.6 7.6 6.2 6.2 5.9 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.1
API FCt (mm) 3.6 3.3 3.3 3.3 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.2 2.2
HFL (ml) 23.6 17.4 17.1 17.1 14.5 14.4 14.5 12.6 12.2 12.2 11.8
HFCt (mm) 6.4 4.8 4.9 4.8 4.2 4.3 4.1 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.5

AFL = API Filtrate loss volume; HFL = High pressure high temperature filtrate loss volume; FCt = API filter cake thickness; HFCt = High pressure high temperature
filter cake thickness.

property is important for the drilling mud lifting capacity of drilled
cuttings from downhole to the surface. The sedimentation of drilled
cuttings is prevented if sufficient yield stress and high viscosity at low
shear are provided. At high shearing, the low viscosity helps to reduce
pumping rate offered beneath the bit (Mezger, 2011).
3.1.3. Yield point
Table 3 provides the effect of SiO2 nanoparticle concentration on
conventional WBM yield point. The yield point identifies drilling fluids
ability to lift drilled cuttings from the annulus to the surface. It reflects
the strength of spatial network structure in the fluid. Any possible cause
of change in low shear-rate viscosities will reflect on the yield point.
Besides, the yield point also denotes the desire of clay layers such as
bentonite to connect together and form a flocculate network. The yield
point of n-WBM increases from 10 to 36.5 lb/100 ft2 as the SiO2 na-
noparticle concentration increased. The higher yield point of the n-
WBM will offer superior dynamic suspension of drilled cuttings and
efficient wellbore cleaning while drilling. The improved n-WBM yield
point is attributed to the effective interaction of nano-SiO2 particles and
bentonite clay particles inherent in the conventional WBM. The in-
organic nano-SiO2 is made up of high surface area per volume which
affords the SiO2 nanoparticle to interact with the bentonite particles.
This high surface area functions as a location for functional groups
bonding by linking with the conventional WBM, hence, forming a rigid
bentonite structure which improves the yield point of WBM (Elochukwu
et al., 2017).
3.1.4. Gel strength
The gel strength (GS) defines the mud behaviour when drilling is
suspended or paused (Kelessidis et al., 2007). The GS with optimal gel
structure is preferred to suspend drilled cuttings effectively and to
prevent barite sag. High GS need higher hydraulic power to re-start the
muds circulation and may pose problems during drilling (Guo et al.,
2006). The 10s and 10 min GS of conventional WBM in this study is 6.0.
Whereas, the 10s and 10 min GS values of n-WBM are 6.0–8.0 and
6.0–9.0, respectively (see Table 3) for the varying concentration of SiO2
nanoparticles. Guo et al. (2006) reported that the GS value for WBM
should not exceed 6–8 lb/100 ft2. Meanwhile, Ismail et al. (2016)
quoted the range of GS as 6–10 lb/100 ft2. The values of GS obtained in
this study conform to the range of optimal GS values reported in lit-
erature.
3.1.5. API filtrates loss volume
The filtrates loss behaviour of WBM rests on the nature and amount
of colloidal materials present in the mud. Thus, a good filtrates loss
control is attained when considerable amount of defined colloidal
materials is added (Kelessidis et al., 2007). In this study, the API fil-
trates test was measured for both conventional WBM and n-WBM.
Table 3 shows the measured filtrates loss volume and the estimated
mud thickness. The obtained result shows a 9.6 ml filtrates loss volume
of the conventional WBM. Addition of nano-SiO2 concentrations into
the conventional WBM improved the filtrates loss reduction volume
from 9.6 to 5.1 ml between the ranges of 0.001–1.5 wt% of nano-SiO2.
This improved filtrates loss reduction is linked to the electrostatic at-
traction existing between the nanosilica and the bentonite clay particles
in the conventional WBM. By this attraction, the nano-SiO2 formed an
interconnected network structure which retains the mud within this
structure, thus leading to filtrates loss volume reduction. It can also be
observed from Table 3 that the filter cake thickness of the n-WBM re-
duces from 3.6 mm–2.2 mm as the concentrations of nano-SiO2 added
in the conventional WBM increases. This can be explained in terms of
direct relationship between the filtrates loss volume and the filter cake
thickness. Increased plastic viscosity of the n-WBM trapped the filtrates
in the mud particles from entering into the formation, thereby reducing
the filtrates loss volume and subsequently low permeable and thin filter
cake was obtained. This shows the application of nano-SiO2 in enhan-
cing the conventional WBMs filtrates loss control properties.
3.1.6. HPHT filtrates loss volume
Table 3 provides the filtrates loss behaviour of the n-WBM under
HPHT conditions. The filtrates loss volume of the n-WBM reduces as the
concentrations of nano-SiO2 in conventional WBM increases. At higher
temperatures, WBM containing bentonite particles have propensity to
degrade and should be supported with an appropriate additive to pre-
vent high loss of filtrates into the formation. This defines the higher loss
of filtrate volume at elevated temperature conditions compared with
the API conditions. Furthermore, the n-WBM at 1.5 wt% has a fairly low
permeable and thin filter cake, hence, could be a good choice to control
the filtrates loss volume. Nonetheless, a lower concentration of nano-
SiO2 might be chosen if a lower yield point and plastic viscosity is
needed for WBMs to offer an enhanced cuttings transports efficiency
during drilling.
3.1.7. Power law fluid behaviour and consistency index
Figs. 4 and 5 provide graphical representation of fluid flow beha-
viour index ‘n’ and fluid consistency index ‘K’ using the power law
model from the obtained viscometer dial readings results. These prop-
erties indicate the pump ability or thickness of the fluid, and are
somewhat equivalent to the fluid apparent viscosity. The parameter ‘n’
denotes the degree of non-Newtonian behaviour of the fluid, and it

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Fig. 4. Effect of nanosilica concentrations (wt%) on WBM.

Fig. 7. Effect of nano-SiO2 on CTR (%) for 1.0 L/s flow rate.

Fig. 5. Effect of nano-SiO2 concentrations (wt%) on WBM.

Fig. 8. Effect of nano-SiO2 on CR (%) for 0.6 L/s flow rate.

Fig. 6. Effect of mud flow rate on annular flow velocity.

decreases as the fluid exhibits more shear-thinning behaviour. The

parameter ‘K’ indicates how viscous is a given fluid, and it increases as
the fluid becomes more viscous. As illustrated, the ‘n’ values for con-
ventional WBM and the n-WBM are less than unity which indicates that
both muds are pseudoplastic, exhibiting shear-thinning behaviour (i.e., Fig. 9. Effect of nano-SiO2 on CTR (%) for 0.4 L/s flow rate.
as the shear-rate increases, the apparent viscosity decreases corre-
spondingly). The introduction of nano-SiO2 improved the shear-thin-
3.2. Cuttings transports performance
ning behaviour of the WBM. Meanwhile, the ‘K’ value indicates the
ability of the drilling mud to effectively lift drilled cuttings out of the
3.2.1. Effect of flowrates on cuttings transports for vertical well
hole to the surface. The introduction of nano-SiO2 increases the values
The experiment was conducted by using three different flow rates:
of ‘K’ with a coefficient of regression of 0.8536. This increased con-
0.4 L/s, 0.6 L/s and 1.0 L/s, indicative of laminar, transition and nearly
sistency trends of ‘K’ value of n-WBM is desirable for effective drilling
turbulent flow. Indubitably, increased flow rate leads to a corre-
operation.
sponding increase in annular fluid velocity, and more recovery of
drilled cuttings (Ismail et al., 2016; Onuoha et al., 2015). Fig. 6

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Fig. 10. a–c: Effects of different concentrations of nanosilica (wt. %) on cuttings transports.

1232
A.O. Gbadamosi et al.
illustrates the trend of relationship between mud flow rate (L/s) and
annular fluid velocity (m/s) used in this study. The n-WBM with a flow
rate of 1.0 L/s has the potential to recover the highest cuttings at the
surface more than the 0.4 L/s and 0.6 L/s due to its ability to overcome
the cuttings settling velocity better by inducing turbulent eddies.
3.2.2. Effect of nano-SiO2 concentrations on cuttings transports
The percentage of the cuttings recovery indicates the mud ability to
lift cuttings from the bottom hole to the surface. Figs. 7–9 illustrate the
relationship of the SiO2 concentration and the cuttings transports ratio.
At the highest mud flow rate of 1.0 L/s, the addition of small con-
centration of nano-SiO2 (0.001–0.003 wt%) did not impact the CTR of
the WBM significantly. Afterwards, an increment of the nano-SiO2
concentration yielded a remarkable effect on the cuttings transports.
The cuttings lifting efficiency was increased from 3 to 13% when
0.005 wt% nano-SiO2 was added. The addition of 0.01% of nano-SiO2 to
conventional WBM brought about a cuttings recovery increase in the
range of 8–18%. Further addition of nano-SiO2 concentration to 1.5%
yielded 66–91% CTR for small, medium and large cuttings size. As more
concentrations of nano-SiO2 were added, the drilled cuttings lifting
efficiency increases. The improved efficiency of WBM with the addition
of nano-SiO2 is due to the effective dispersion and interaction ability
between the nano-SiO2 particles and the constituents of silica com-
pounds in the bentonite clay particles present in the WBM (Elochukwu
et al., 2017; Fakharany et al., 2017). This synergistic relationship that
existed between the nano-SiO2 particles and bentonite clay particles
enhances the rheological properties of the conventional WBM. For
lower flow rates of 0.6 L/s and 0.4 L/s, the CTR for the maximum nano-
SiO2 is 63–79% and 58–72% respectively.
3.2.3. Effects of cuttings sizes on the wellbore cleaning
Three cuttings sizes were selected to study their effects of nano-SiO2
on WBM for wellbore cleaning. The use of mud for wellbore cleaning
allows for the transportation of cuttings with various sizes. Fig. 10(a–c)
shows the effect cuttings sizes (small, medium and large) on wellbore
cleaning at the flow rates considered. The effect of cuttings sizes on
lifting efficiency in the presence of nano-SiO2 indicates that small cut-
tings size has higher cuttings recovery to the surface than medium and
bigger sizes respectively. The reason could be that large particles are
least affected by buoyancy and viscous forces opposing the settling rate
compared with the small or medium sized cuttings. On the other hand,
smaller sized particles are much trapped by the buoyancy and viscous
forces as well as drag force opposing its settling rate compared to
medium or large particles. The longer particle stays in the mud, the
more it becomes affected by these forces opposing its rate of settling
and the more coefficient of drag it will exhibit. Hence, for all flow rates
used in this study, small cuttings size is the easiest to clean out of the
hole compared with the medium and the large ones. Moreover, sig-
nificant improvement of cuttings lifting was observed when higher
concentrations of nano-SiO2 are introduced. The significant perfor-
mance of the n-WBM in drilled cuttings removal is also attributed to
floatation mechanism of the drilled cuttings by the drilling fluid. A
greater pressure was exerted by the nano-SiO2 on the cuttings than that
exerted by the conventional WBM without nano-SiO2. As more nano-
SiO2 is added to the WBM, more pressure are exerted on the drilled
cuttings. The exerted pressure (buoyant force) by the nano-SiO2 will
induce the drilled cuttings to the top section of the annulus where high
fluid flow rates exist, and subsequently cuttings transports to the sur-
face will increase (Ismail et al., 2016). The floatation mechanism is
possible since the drilled cuttings have less potential to settle down to
the bottom of the hole. As a result, the cuttings can easily be trans-
ported to the surface. Overall, cuttings transports efficiency depends on
the cuttings size, nano-SiO2 concentration, and flow rate.
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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 172 (2019) 1226–1234
4. Conclusions
The study made a comparative analysis of WBM and n-WBM based
on concentration of nanoparticle, different flow rates and cutting sizes
to investigate their effects on cuttings lifting efficiency. Results of the
addition of nano-SiO2 as an additive to WBM to enhance the drilled
cuttings removal out of the hole to the surface revealed that n-WBM
showed an improved lifting and hole cleaning efficiency of drilled
cuttings and other solid particles than the conventional WBM de-
pending on the cuttings sizes, annular velocity and flow rate. This is
because nano-SiO2 dispersed in the WBM resulted in an increase in the
viscosity and rheological behaviour of WBM, thereby, leading to a
corresponding increase in the cuttings lifting capacity to the surface.
The improved rheological and filtrate loss control behaviour of the n-
WBM allows the suspension and transport of the weighting materials in
the mud system and control the amount of fluid loss in the permeable
zones. Consequently, the cuttings bed height was significantly lowered
as amount of the nano-SiO2 added to WBM increases with a corre-
sponding increase in the cuttings annular fluid velocity. Finally, drilling
mud flow rate dominate the cuttings transports process more than any
other parameters investigated. It is expected that an increase in muds
flow rate will always cause more efficient removal of drilled cuttings
out of the annular space. However, an upper limit of flow rate on the
field may be dictated by availability of the rig hydraulic power, per-
missible equivalent circulating density, and proneness of the open-hole
section to hydraulic erosion.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education,
Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, for supporting this re-
search through Research Management Grant Vot. Nos.
Q.J30000.2546.14H50 and R.J130000.7846.4F946.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2018.09.097.
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