Oil Based Liquid Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum is a macromolecular polysaccharide substance made of 5 molecules of sugar as a unit and polymerized by the same unit as this. It can be widely used in about 100 kinds of products in more than 20 industries, such as oil drilling, chemical, food, medicine, agriculture, dye, ceramics, paper, textile, cosmetics, construction and explosives manufacturing. According to its different properties and uses, it is mainly divided into five categories: oil drilling grade xanthan gum, food grade xanthan gum, industrial grade xanthan gum, cosmetic grade xanthan gum, pharmaceutical grade xanthan gum, etc.

Particularly, the research on xanthan gum for oil extraction has not stopped. Xanthan gum is an efficient viscosity builder for freshwater, brine and saturated brine drilling fluids. Its distinctive features are excellent shear dilution performance and effective improvement of flow pattern. The ultimate viscosity of drilling fluid treated with it is very low at high shear rate, which is conducive to improving the mechanical drilling speed: while it has high viscosity at low shear rate in the annular space, which is conducive to the formation of laminar flow, so that the ability of drilling fluid to carry rock chips is obviously enhanced. However, common xanthan gum has poor temperature stability, which affects the depth and breadth of product use.

The oil-based liquid xanthan gum developed in recent years is a flowable liquid xanthan gum with a solid content of 40%, which is made from high quality temperature-resistant xanthan gum with special technology and special equipment under the action of organic solvent. Compared with conventional xanthan gum, oil-based liquid xanthan gum has the following characteristics: 1. better thermal stability and acid, alkali, salt stability; 2. higher lubrication capacity and drilling stability; 3. high solid content, easy to use, no pollution, long storage time, no stratification.

Oil-based liquid xanthan gum is a new type of drilling fluid flow regulator with excellent performance, suitable for polymer, polysulfide and polymer water-in-oil drilling fluids; its mechanism of action is mainly to enhance the spatial mesh structure of drilling fluids and improve the shear thinning performance of drilling fluids; better temperature resistance and stability, still maintain good rheological performance and filtration loss control performance at high temperature and improved, which is significantly different from conventional xanthan gum products.

Its performance is unique, more suitable for polymer water-in-oil drilling fluids and all kinds of mixed oil drilling fluids, in high temperature and high oil content conditions can better play the role of flow pattern regulation, in large slope directional wells and horizontal drilling fluids have better use value.

Oil-based liquid xanthan gum has been used in drilling and completion construction in the international market, therefore, it is important to explore the influence of oil-based liquid xanthan gum on drilling fluid performance, especially on the rheological properties of different drilling fluid systems, and to understand its basic functions and usage methods, in order to research new biopolymer drilling fluid systems with good temperature resistance and stable performance.