Synthesis and Characterization of Salt Tolerant Ternary Polyampholyte as Rheology Enhancer and Fluid Loss Additive for Water-Based Drilling Fluids

Mukhametgazy N. Gussenov I.Sh. Shakhvorostov A.V. Tenhu H. Abutalip M. Kudaibergenov S.E.
2023 Engineered Science Publisher

Engineered Science
2023 #26

A novel ternary polyampholyte (TPA) was synthesized via free radical copolymerization in deionized water using ammonium persulfate as an initiator. The TPA composition included 80 mol.% acrylamide (AAm), 10 mol.% 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium salt (AMPS), and 10 mol.% (3-acrylamidopropyl) tri-methylammonium chloride (APTAC). TPA was used as an alternative to low viscosity polyanionic cellulose (PAC-LV) to prepare bentonite-based drilling fluids with different concentrations of NaCl (1-35 wt.%). Gel strength (GS) measurements demonstrated that, at a 6:1 [initiator]:[catalyst] ratio, even in high salinity brines (25-35 wt.%), the GS values exceeded industry standards, highlighting the superior performance of bentonite/ternary polyampholyte (BT/TPA) in high salinity media. Notably, TPA addition significantly reduced the filter cake thickness to 0.09 cm, outperforming BT/PAC-LV (0.18 cm) and bentonite alone (0.41 cm). Furthermore, the BT/TPA drilling fluid exhibited the lowest permeability/thickness ratio at 13 mD/cm, indicating its potential as a rheology enhancer and fluid loss additive for salt-resistant Water-Based Drilling Fluids (WBDF) applications. The filtration performance of bentonite and bentonite/polymer dispersions showed a clear trend in fluid loss values: BT/TPA < BT/PAC-LV < Base Fluid. The high-salinity BT/TPA drilling fluid had remarkably low fluid loss, measuring just 3.5 ml, well below the API standard limit of 12 ml.

Bentonite clay (BT) , Filter cake , Fluid loss additive , Gel strength , High salinity media , Low viscosity polyanionic cellulose PAC-LV , Rheology enhancer , Salt-resistant Water-Based Drilling Fluids (WBDF) , Ternary polyampholyte (TPA)

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Institute of Polymer Materials and Technology, Almaty, 050019, Kazakhstan
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Satbayev University, Almaty, 050013, Kazakhstan
Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Lab of Renewable Energy, National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan

Institute of Polymer Materials and Technology
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Lab of Renewable Energy

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026