Synthesis of Polymer Drilling Mud Using Blend of Guinea Corn and Millet Starches

This work shows the use of blended starches from Guinea corn and Millet to formulate a water-based polymer drilling mud. The process was established through an extrusion method where the extracted starches were blended and pre-gelatinized without solvent or chemical. An already existing mud, tagged CMS:HPS-Mud, was used as a standard for comparing to the new mud, tagged as G:M-Mud, at 25°C-320°C temperature range and 0.02g/ml concentration using a filter loss method. A higher sorptivity value of 33.25 was observed at 320°C for the new starch polymer drilling mud when compared to the already existing mud whose value was 17.10. The diffusivity of both mud was also checked. This indicates the potency of the new polymer mud to have a better filter cake property. The new polymer mud also showed better filtration control behavior and lower fluid loss values than already existing mud at all temperatures. At a Temperature of 320°C, 260.00 and 739.00 of G:M-Mud and CMS:HPS-Mud were obtained respectively as the fluid loss values, indicating that the new polymer mud has a better thermal stability than the already existing mud. The new polymer mud also exhibited certain properties that are of better advantage in drilling operation such as purity, ability to absorb and retain a flowing fluid, hence reducing fluid loss more than the already existing mud at different temperatures