Experimental investigation of the impact of sugarcane molasses on the properties of colloidal gas aphron (CGA) drilling fluid

Colloidal gas aphron (CGA) based fluid has become very popular in drilling in the last two decades, as it reduces formation damages significantly. In this study, sugarcane molasses (Mls) was used for the first time as a polymer in CGA-based to investigate its ability to improve the role of aphronized fluid as a drilling fluid. The results showed that increasing the concentration of Mls to 12% (v/v) in CGA-based fluid reduces the drainage rate and increases half-life to 10.6 min, resulting in enhanced stability of the aphronized fluid. Also, because of increasing Mls concentration from 1% to 12% (v/v), the yield and the initial gas hold-up decrease to 74% and 299.4 mL, respectively, indicating that the presence of Mls allows less air into the aphron system. Although the rheological properties were improved in this study, the gel strength did not change considerably. Furthermore, the results showed that by increasing the concentration of Mls, the average size of the bubbles decreases, and the particle-size distribution becomes more uniform. Finally, the API filtration test revealed that the higher the Mls concentration in the aphronized fluid, the lower the fluid loss, and at the Mls concentration of 12% (v/v), the fluid loss was estimated at 19.54 mL. A natural polysaccharide with high molecular weight, Mls can be used as a polymer in CGA-based fluid and, thus, improve its performance.