Experimental Study on the Polymer/Graphene Oxide Composite as a Fluid Loss Agent for Water-Based Drilling Fluids

The wellbore instability caused by the penetration of drilling fluids into the formation is a vital problem in the drilling process. In this study, we synthesized a polymer/graphene oxide composite (PAAN-G) as a fluid loss additive in water-based drilling fluids. The three monomers (acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS), N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP)) and graphene oxide (GO) were copolymerized using aqueous free radical polymerization. The composition, micromorphology, and thermal stability properties of PAAN-G were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). According to the American Petroleum Institute (API) standards, the influence of PAAN-G on the rheological and filtration properties of bentonite-based mud was evaluated. Compared with PAAN, PAAN-0.2G has more stable rheological properties at high temperatures. The experimental results showed that even at a high temperature of 240 °C, PAAN-G can still maintain a stable fluid loss reduction ability. In addition, PAAN-G is also suitable for high-salt formations; it can still obtain satisfactory filtration volume when the concentration of sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) reached 25 wt %. Besides, we discussed the fluid loss control mechanism of PAAN-G through particle size distribution and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).