Synthesis and properties of a high-performance environment-friendly micro–nano filtration reducer

In this research study, we modified hydroxyethyl cellulose to obtain hydrophobically associating hydroxyethyl cellulose, and grafted it onto the surface of nano-calcium carbonate to obtain a graft copolymer. The intramolecular or intermolecular associations between the macromolecular chains of the graft copolymers form different forms of supramolecular network structures, and they interact with nanoparticles to form stable structures to enhance their related properties. The structure of the obtained graft copolymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and laser particle size analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed the thermal stability of the graft copolymer, and the results showed that the graft copolymer obtained thermally decomposed after 370.86 °C, indicating that it has good thermal stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the mechanism of the graft copolymers in drilling fluids. The fluid loss control performance and rheology of the filtration reducer were evaluated before and after hot rolling at 180 °C for 16 hours. The results showed that the graft copolymer has excellent fluid loss reduction performance, and it has good fluid loss reduction performance in fresh water, brine and saturated brine. The API fluid loss was only 6.4 mL after hot rolling at 180 °C for 16 h in the brine base slurry. Moreover, the obtained graft copolymer is easily biodegradable, has EC(50) ≥ 30 000 and good environmental performance, and can be used in high temperature and high salt reservoir with high environmental protection requirements.