PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 43, Issue 6, December 2016

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2016, 43(6): 1076–1081. RESEARCH PAPER

Rheological properties of Aphron based drilling fluids

KHAMEHCHI Ehsan1,*, TABIBZADEH Shahin2, ALIZADEH Ali1
1. Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran;
2. Department of Petroleum Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: A new drilling fluid system has been successfully used to drill depleted reservoirs which are known as Aphron based drilling
fluids. The rheological behavior of the Aphron based drilling fluid was investigated by experimental tests and data analyses. After gener-
ating a typical Aphron based drilling fluid, its viscosity was tested at different temperatures, and the test data was fitted using Power law,
Bingham Plastic and Herschel-Bulkley models. It is found that Herschel-Bulkley model is more accurate to describe flow properties for
fluids before and after Aphron generation process for all temperatures. Based on Herschel Bulkley model, the shear thinning ability of the
fluid increases by increasing temperature, the gel strength and hole cleaning capacity of the fluid increase after Aphron generation, and
increasing temperature to high value will not debilitate Aphron drilling fluid performance significantly. The fluid has high viscosity in low
shear rate conditions, so that it can provide a strong seal in pore openings to bridge the pores. Aphron bubble growth rate over the time
and drainage rates are determined as criteria for Aphron bubble stability. Bubble size growth rate is very low and the longevity is long,
and liquid drains in a weak rate in drainage static test, which shows a strong stability of the Aphron based drilling fluid.

Key words: Aphron based drilling fluid; rheology; stability; rheological model; underbalanced drilling

Introduction A novel drilling fluid system has been developed by the

authors to drill depleted reservoirs. Some surfactants and
Drilling in depleted reservoirs faces many challenges, for
polymers are used in this drilling fluid to create “mi-
example, formation damage due to increase of overbalance
cro-bubbles” which are known as Aphrons encapsulated in a
pressure[1]. Another problem associated with overbalance
uniquely viscous aqueous system. These Colloidal Gas
drilling in depleted reservoir is differential sticking [2]. During
Aphrons (CGAs) have non-coalescing nature, enabling den-
drilling in a high permeable zone which has pore pressure
sity reduction of drilling fluid without expensive air or gas
lower than wellbore pressure, due to high differential pressure,
injection techniques[5]. They can be circulated through drilling
the drill string tends to stick to the wellbore. An advanced
technique for drilling depleted reservoirs and reservoirs with mud circulation system[6]. Aphron drilling fluids have been
multiple pressure zones is underbalanced drilling, in which successfully used in oilfields to drill through depleted reser-
the drilling fluid has low density to balance the formation pore voirs or formations which have problems such as uncontrollable
pressure in the lowest pressure zone. But this technique is losses and differential sticking[79]. Since the Aphron micro-
complicate, and needs additional equipment, which could bubbles have high elasticity, high strength and high stability,
increase the cost, and this technique could cause wellbore the Aphron drilling fluid can be used as a unique lost circula-
instability, wellbore collapse and blowout[3] Since the pore tion material to seal and plug pores and micro-fractures[10].
pressure in depleted reservoirs is very low, a drilling fluid 1. Theoretical basis
with low density suitable for the formation pore pressure can
be used to solve the problems mentioned above. Different 1.1. Rheologic model
methods have been developed for preparing low density drill- Rheologic and hydraulic properties of drilling fluids can be
ing fluid, for example, injecting air or inert gas into the base described by rheologic model, the most widely used rheologic
fluid to create bubbles in the system and reduce the equivalent models for drilling fluids are the following.
density of the drilling fluid, but these bubbles are not stable
1.1.1. Bingham plastic model
and may break at higher temperatures and pressures[4]. An-
other problem associated with bubbles in the mud is their This model describes fluids need some shearing stress to
short longevity and weak pore blocking ability. initiate flow, and there is a linear relationship between the

Received date: 21 Nov. 2015; Revised date: 25 Jul. 2016.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright © 2016, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.
 KHAMEHCHI Ehsan et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2016, 43(6): 1076–1081

shear rate and the shear stress of this kind of fluid once the flow behavior at different temperatures. Then its initial gel
initiating stress is exceeded. The term “yield point” denotes strength and final gel strength were measured, at last, its bub-
initiating stress, and “plastic viscosity” denotes slope of the ble size distribution, and bubble growth rate were analyzed,
curve[11]. The shear stress/shear rate relationship for the Bing- and static drainage test was done to find out the stability of the
ham Plastic Model is given by: bubbles, the specific method is as follows.
  = τy μp 
2.1. Preparation of fluid
In Bingham Plastic Model, the term plastic viscosity (PV)
is used as an indicator of the size, shape, distribution and The materials used in Aphron drilling fluid formulation are
quantity of solids, and the viscosity of the liquid phase, and listed in Table 1. The first step was adding hardness control
yield point (YP) is a measure of electrical attractive force in agent (Soda Ash) to the fresh water to remove possible hard-
the drilling fluid under flowing conditions. PV and YP are two ening ions. In the next step caustic soda was added to the base
very important drilling fluid parameters, and both can be cal- fluid to increase pH to 9.5. Aphron generator polymer and
culated from mud viscometer data. polymer blend were added to the base fluid and mixed for 20
minutes using Hamilton beach mixer at 10000 r/min to avoid
1.1.2. Power Law Model
formation of local viscous agglomerates as Nareh sug-
Most drilling fluids exhibit flowing behavior between the gested[12]. After preparing viscous fluid, Aphron Generator
behaviors described by the Newtonian Model and the Bing- Surfactant, an anionic surfactant, was added to prepared fluid
ham Plastic Model. This behavior is named pseudo plastic. system for generating Aphron micro bubbles. For this purpose,
The relationship between shear stress and shear rate of pseudo viscous fluid and surfactant were stirred for 2 minutes using
plastic fluids is defined by the power law mathematical IKA Overhead stirrer at 2 000 r/min to achieve homogenous
model, surfactant dispersion. After this step, Aphron Stabilizer Sur-
 n (2) factant, which is a non-ionic surfactant was added to the sys-
In the model, consistency index (K) describes the thickness tem to enhance Aphron’s bubble stability. The solution was
of the fluid, equivalent to effective viscosity. In fact, it is re- stirred for 2 minutes for good surfactant dispersion. Finally,
lated to the fluid viscosity at low shear rate. Hole-cleaning the mixture was mixed at 10 000 r/min using Hamilton beach
and suspension effectiveness of drilling fluid can be improved mixer for 5 minutes, and biocide was added to prevent the
by increasing the “K” value. If the viscosity of drilling fluid polymer from fermentation.
increases, then the constant K would increase too to ade-
quately describe the shear stress/shear rate relationship. Addi- 2.2. Rheological behavior of Aphron drilling fluid under
tionally, n, the flow behavior index, indicates the degree of different temperatures
non-Newtonian behavior over a given shear rate range. The Dynamic shearing force: First, the viscosity of the drilling
lower the “n” value, the more shear thinning a fluid will be. fluid was tested by using Fann 35 viscometer equipped with a
For pseudo plastic fluids, the n is between zero and one. heater cup. The sample before and after Aphron generation
Pseudo plastic fluids have shear thinning feature, in other was poured into the cup, the dial readings were recorded at
words, their effective viscosity decreases as the shear rate different rpms (600, 300, 200, 100, 6, 3) and temperatures,
increases. and converted to shear stress and shear rate. The first tem-
1.1.3. Herschel Bulkley Model perature point tested was 49 C (120 F), the standard tem-
perature to perform rheology test according to API, and a
The Herschel-Bulkley Model is a Power Law Model too temperature commonly used in oil field test and report on
which includes a yield stress parameter denoting shear stress drilling fluid rheological parameters. The second temperature
at zero shear rate.
 n (3) Table 1. Formulation of Aphron drilling fluid

1.2. Gel strength Component Function Concentration/(kgm3)

Fresh Water Base Fluid 998.55
Gel strength is used to characterize thixotropy, and describe
Soda Ash Hardness buffer 1.43
the time-dependent flow behavior of drilling fluid. Gel
strength values at 10-second (initial gel) and 10-minute time Caustic Soda pH buffer 0.29
intervals are recorded. In general, gel strength will increase Aphron generator/
Xanthan Gum 5.71
Aphron stabilizer
with time, temperature, and increase of solids, and affect the
Xanthan Gum + Fluid loss controller/thermal
ability of a fluid to release entrained gas. Therefore gel 28.53
PAC-R polymer Stabilizer/viscosifier
strength of Aphron drilling fluids must be high enough to pro-
SDS Aphron generator 2.85
vide adequate stability against break of micro bubbles.
Tween-20 Aphron stabilizer 2.85
2. Methods and materials Biguanide
Bactericide 0.71
Chlorhexidine
A typical Aphron drilling fluid was prepared to examine its
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point tested was 71 C (160 F), a temperature in between the life of the bubbles must be long enough. The total volume
surface temperature and bottom hole temperature, which is and drained liquid volume with time at atmospheric pressure
taken as the temperature of drilling fluid flowing in the annu- and room temperature were measured to evaluate the longev-
lus. The third temperature, 93 C (200 F), is the maximum ity of the bubbles and the stability of the drilling fluid. See
permissible temperature to perform rheological test with low references [9] and [14] for the detailed test procedures.
temperature-non pressurized viscometer, and also the maxi-
3. Results and discussions
mum permissible temperature to avoid possible polymer
degradation[13]. 3.1. Rheological behavior of Aphron drilling fluid at
The experimental data was fitted to the three mentioned different temperatures
rheological models using MATLAB software. The fitted pa-
Tables 2-7 show the behavior of the drilling fluid before
rameters at different temperatures and before and after bubble
and after Aphron generation obtained by Bingham plastic,
formation were compared to find out which model can de-
Power law and Herschel Bulkley models at different tempera-
scribe the rheological properties of the Aphron based drilling
tures. Comparison of R2 values, error square, SSE and RMSE
fluid more accurately. Statistical parameters such as squared
of the 3 models shows that Herschel Bulkley model is more
correlation coefficient (R2), sum of square error (SSE) and
accurate than the other two models in describing flow proper-
root mean square error (RMSE) were determined to evaluate
ties of the drilling fluid before and after Aphron generation at
the validity of the models in describing the rheological prop-
all temperatures.
erties of the drilling fluid at different temperatures.
Table 2. Fluid properties before Aphron generation under Bing-
2.3. Static shearing force
ham plastic model condition
To evaluate gel strength of the drilling fluid, the gel strengths
Temperature/C τy/Pa μp/(mPas) R2 SSE RMSE
of the fluid were measured to figure out the effect of micro-
49 62.76 10 0.920 2 60.13 3.877
bubbles and temperature increase on the fluid gel strength.
71 56.49 10 0.896 0 108.21 5.197
2.4. Low shear rate viscosity (LSRV) evaluation 93 41.84 10 0.901 6 105.81 5.143
To get the best pore bridging ability, it is necessary to de-
Table 3. Fluid properties before Aphron generation under
termine the proper low shear rate viscosity[14]. Ivan et al. [7]
Power law model condition
recommended that LSRV of Aphron drilling fluid should be
maintained more than 50 Pa·s, while Ramirez et al.[15] recom- Temperature/C K/(mPasn) n R2 SSE RMSE
mended a LSRV between 80 and 120 Pa·s to improve Aphron 49 14.350 0.179 7 0.961 4 29.080 2.696 0
property. The viscosity of the drilling fluid at different low 71 7.457 0.269 8 0.987 5 10.370 1.610 0
shear rates was tested with Brookfield viscometer to find out 93 2.467 0.410 9 0.999 6 0.461 0.339 4
the effect of Aphron on the viscosity of the drilling fluid at
low shear rates. Table 4. Fluid properties before Aphron generation under
Herschel-Bulkley model condition
2.5. Size distribution of micro bubbles
Temperature/C K/(mPasn) n  0/Pa R2 SSE RMSE
The Aphron bubbles of micro-scale expand and gather, fill-
49 1.215 0.482 1 39.29 0.997 8 1.650 0.742 0
ing porous medium around the wellbore and rearrange in mi-
71 2.337 0.434 0 17.86 0.999 1 0.993 0.575 3
cro-fissures to prevent drilling fluid from leaking into the
formation. The diameter of Aphron is a key factor affecting 93 2.060 0.415 0 2.04 0.999 8 0.164 0.233 7
the loss amount of Aphron drilling fluid to the formation.
Table 5. Fluid properties after Aphron generation under Bing-
Bubble size distribution should be in accordance with the pore
ham Plastic model condition
size distribution of the formation rock. Therefore, it is more
useful to measure the size distribution of micro-bubbles than Temperature/C τy/Pa μp/(mPas) R2 SSE RMSE
just looking at the average bubble size[16]. Consequently using 49 102.51 23 0.943 2 202.1 7.108
a microscopic imaging technique wherein the camera was 71 102.51 23 0.923 1 269.2 8.203
attached to an optical microscope, the pictures of the mi- 93 98.33 21 0.886 0 385.3 9.815
cro-bubbles were taken (take one picture every 30 minutes
within 240 minutes) and after adjusting the scale of the photos, Table 6. Fluid properties after Aphron generation under Power
using image analyzer software, the bubbles sizes measured law model condition
were sorted to find out average bubble size and bubble size Temperature/C K/(mPasn) n R2 SSE RMSE
distribution after Aphron generation and over the time.
49 17.70 0.241 0 0.957 8 150.10 6.126
2.6. Drainage static test 71 18.07 0.237 6 0.969 5 106.80 5.167
93 16.68 0.244 3 0.986 6 45.21 3.362
To perform drilling and block formation pores effectively,
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Table 7. Fluid properties after Aphron generation under YP) are the most widely used in hydraulic computations in oil
Herschel-Bulkley model condition fields. It can be seen from Tables 2 and 5 that either before
Temperature/C K/(mPasn) n  0/Pa R2 SSE RMSE Aphron generation or after, temperature rise has little effect on
PV. Before Aphron generation, PV is mainly dependent on
49 1.539 0.556 8 58.56 0.998 2 6.505 1.473
viscosity of the liquid phase, while after Aphron generation; it
71 2.426 0.492 2 53.79 0.995 0 16.440 2.341
seems that PV is a consequence of bubble-bubble, bub-
93 5.144 0.388 0 37.22 0.995 0 16.790 2.366
ble-fluid and fluid layer frictions. As a result, the PV after
Aphron generation is higher. Furthermore, the fluid before
Analysis of the fitting results by Herschel-Bulkley model Aphron generation is more affected by temperature, while
(Tables 4 and 7) shows: after Aphron generation, the YP is higher, but with the rise of
(1) Before Aphron generation, with the increase of tem- temperature, the YP drops little. The main reason of YP in-
perature, the n value (flow behavior index) decreases slowly. crease after Aphron generation is that the addition of surfac-
After Aphron generation, the rise in temperature also causes tant leads to increase in electrochemical force through the
the drop of n value, but at a higher decrement rate. When the fluid, and as a result, an increase in the fluid’s intermolecular
temperature reaches 93 C (200 F), the n value is lower than force.
that before Aphron generation. Therefore, it can be seen either
before or after Aphron generation, temperature rise will cause 3.2. Bubble size distribution over the time
reduction in flow behavior index and enhancement in shear Bubble growth rate is a factor which controls Aphron sta-
thinning capability of fluid. bility[16]. The Aphron bubbles after generation are shown in
(2) Under all temperatures, the generation of Aphron will Fig. 1. Taking Fig. 1 as an example, after determining the
cause rise of consistency index (K), i.e., the effective viscosity scale size, 97 bubbles of different diameters were counted,
of the drilling fluid, and in turn, the hole cleaning capacity of which have an average bubble size of 53.46 m, and are
the drilling fluid. Based on Herschel Bulkley model increase mostly 3060 μm (Fig. 2). The picture of the sample was
in temperature will enhance annular viscosity and conse- taken every 30 minutes in the duration of 240 minutes, and
quently more effective hole cleaning will be attained. average bubble size distribution over the time is shown in Fig. 3.
(3) No matter before Aphron generation or after Aphron
generation, the rise of temperature would cause drop in yield
stress of the drilling fluid. At all temperatures, Aphron genera-
tion would possibly increase yield stress. This is because add-
ing surfactant to the system can increase ionic concentration
and attraction force of the fluid, and consequently enhance
yield stress of the fluid, which means increment in shear stress
required to break the gel structure of the drilling fluid to flow.
Table 8 shows besides yield stress, the initial gel strength
(10 seconds) and final gel strength (10 minutes) also increase
at all temperatures. In addition, the gel strengths either before
Aphron generation or after at all temperatures are higher than
the yield stresses simulated by Herschel Bulkley model,
which indicates the drilling fluid has shear thinning ability
and flow of the drilling fluid can break the gel strength to its
dynamic equivalent (yield stress). Fig. 1. A typical microscope picture of the Aphron bubbles after
Even though Bingham Plastic Model is not the most accu- generation.
rate model to characterize the rheological properties of
Aphron based drilling fluids, this Model’s parameters (PV and

Table 8. 10 seconds and 10 minutes gel strength before and after

Aphron generation
Temperature/ 10 seconds gel 10 minutes gel
Condition
C Strength/Pa Strength/Pa
49 41.84 43.93
Before Aphron
71 25.10 29.29
generation
93 10.46 12.55
49 60.67 73.22
After Aphron
71 58.58 64.85
generation
93 52.30 58.58 Fig. 2. Aphron bubble size distribution.
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Fig. 5. Low shear rate viscosity before Aphron generation.

Fig. 3. Average bubble size over time.

It can be seen that the bubble size growth before 150 min. is
slow, but after 150 min. bubble more rapid.

3.3. Stability of the Aphron drilling fluid

Due to the difference in density between micro bubbles and

solution, the bubbles tend to drain upward and the liquid tend
to drain downward. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that before 24
hours, the total fluid volume changes little, after 24 hours, the
total fluid volume decreases slowly. Before 18 hours, no
drained volume was observed, and after passing 24 hours 3 Fig. 6. Low shear rate viscosity after Aphron generation.
mL drained volume was observed and then with a slow rate which is favorable for cuttings carrying, and effective in
increased to 17 mL after 48 hours. The main reason for this blocking pores in wellbore formation, preventing fluid inva-
slow drainage rate is the viscous nature of fluid and its high sion into the formation and formation damage.
gel strength. As mentioned above, gel strength affects the
ability of fluids to release entrained gas. Furthermore else- 4. Conclusions
where is mentioned fluid with a high viscosity by using The rheological model suitable for describing flow behav-
buoyancy force delays the liquid hydrodynamic outflow ior of drilling fluid before and after Aphron generation is
around the bubbles of the Aphron drilling fluid[14]. Clearly, the Herschel Bulkely model. Based on the fitting results of
Aphron drilling fluid has good stability. Herschel Bulkley model, either before or after Aphron genera-
3.4. Evaluation of LSRV tion, temperature rise would enhance the rheological per-
formance of the drilling fluid. After generation of the Aphron,
It can be seen from Figs. 5 and 6 that either before or after the wellbore cleaning capacity of the fluid improves. When
Aphron generation, the viscosity at zero shear rate of the the temperature reaches 93 C (200 F), the properties of the
drilling fluid is high, even higher than the viscosity recom- drilling fluid don’t decline much.
mended by Ramirez[15]. With the increase of shear rate, the After generation, the bubble size grows slowly before 150
viscosity decreases rapidly, which indicates good shear thin- minutes, after 150 minutes the size grows faster. In terms of
ning behavior of the fluid. Compared with that before the longevity, the Aphron drilling fluid has strong stability. In the
generation of Aphron bubbles, the LSRV is higher, indicating static drainage test, the drainage rate of liquid is low, also
under low shear rate, the Aphron fluid has stronger gelation, proving good stability of the drilling fluid.
Its LSRV after the generation of Aphron is higher than its
LSRV before the generation of Aphron, which means the
Aphron drilling fluid can block pores more effectively at low
shear rate.

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Pars Drilling Fluids Company
(PDF) for support throughout this study. We express our
thanks to Mr. Kalhor (Technical manager at Pars Drilling
Fluids Company) for his valuable comments. We are also in-
debted to anonymous reviewers whose critical comments and
invaluable suggestions helped to improve the clarity of some
Fig. 4. Drainage static test results. of the results.
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1
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