The escalating generation of industrial waste alongside the growing demand for high-performance, environmentally sustainable drilling fluids presents critical challenges to the oil and gas sector. Conventional drilling fluid additives are predominantly synthesized from virgin materials, contributing to resource depletion and environmental burden. Objectives: This study pioneers a circular economy approach by synthesizing silica nanoparticles (SiO2NPS) and alumina nanoparticles (Al2O3NPs) entirely from locally sourced industrial waste — bentonite clay and aluminum scrap, respectively — and evaluating their performance as functional additives in water-based drilling fluids (WBDFs). Novelty: To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first integrated investigation combining simultaneous waste-derived synthesis of both SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ NPs with comprehensive drilling fluid performance assessment under both LTLP and HTHP conditions, within a unified circular economy framework. Methodology: The synthesized nanomaterials were thoroughly characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Five nanoparticle concentrations (0.5–4.0 wt%) were screened, with 3 wt% identified as optimal. Rheological parameters, filtration characteristics, and shale inhibition capacity were then evaluated under low-temperature low-pressure (LTLP) and high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) conditions. Key Results: At the optimal concentration of 3 wt%, silica nanoparticles reduced filtrate volume by 40% under LTLP and 38.6% under HTHP conditions, while increasing yield point by 75% and reducing plastic viscosity by 17.4%. Alumina nanoparticles achieved comparable, yet slightly lower, improvements. Shale swelling was suppressed by 60.7% (SiO2NPS) and 57.1% (Al2O3NPs) over 24 h, and the coefficient of friction was reduced by 34.4% and 25.0%, respectively. Conclusions: This work validates the technical and environmental viability of waste-derived nanomaterials as high-performance, eco-friendly WBDF additives, providing a sustainable pathway for improving drilling efficiency and wellbore stability in challenging shale formations while simultaneously contributing to industrial waste valorization.
Changing oil-wet surfaces toward higher water wettability is of key importance in subsurface engineering applications. This includes petroleum recovery from fractured limestone reservoirs, which are typically mixed or oil-wet, resulting in poor productivity as conventional waterflooding techniques are inefficient. A wettability change toward more water-wet would significantly improve oil displacement efficiency, and thus productivity. Another area where such a wettability shift would be highly beneficial is carbon geo-sequestration, where compressed CO2 is pumped underground for storage. It has recently been identified that more water-wet formations can store more CO2. We thus examined how silica based nanofluids can induce such a wettabil
... Show MoreDoxycycline hyclate is an antibiotic drug with a broad‐spectrum activity against a variety of gram‐positive and gram‐negative bacteria and is frequently used as a pharmacological agent and as an effector molecule in an inducible gene expression system. A sensitive, reliable and fast spectrophotometric method for the determination of doxycycline hyclate in pure and pharmaceutical formulations has been developed using flow injection analysis (FIA) and batch procedures. The proposed method is based on the reaction between the chromogenic reagent (V4+) and doxycycline hyclate in a neutral medium, resulting in the formation of a yellow compound that shows maximum absorbance at 3
The results of theoretical and experimental investigations carried out to study the effect of load and relative sliding speed on the abrasive wear behavior in drilling bit teeth surfaces of an insert tungsten carbide bit have been presented. Experimentally, an apparatus for abrasive wear tests conducted on the modified ASTM-G65 was modified and fabricated to facilitate loading and measurement of wear rate for the sand/ steel wheel abrasion test, which involves two cases of contact; first is at dry sand and second is under wet condition. These tests have been carried under varied operating parameters of normal load and sliding speed. A theoretical model based upon the Archard equation has been developed for predicting wear simulation by u
... Show MoreThis work introduces a new electrode geometry for making holes with high aspect ratios on AISI 304 using an electrical discharge drilling (EDD) process. In addition to commercially available cylindrical hollow electrodes, an elliptical electrode geometry has been designed, manufactured, and implemented. The principal aim was to improve the removal of debris formed during the erosion process that adversely affects the aspect ratio, dimensional accuracy, and surface integrity. The results were compared and discussed to evaluate the effectiveness of electrode geometry on the machining performance of EDD process with respect to the material removal rate (MRR,) the electrode wear rate (EWR), and the tool wear ratio (TWR). Dimensional features an
... Show MoreBackground: Polymeric composites have been widely used as dental restorative materials. A fundamental knowledge and understanding of the behavior of these materials in the oral cavity is essential to improve their properties and performance. The goal of this study was to measure water sorption of four composite resins containing different filler and resin matrix contents. Materials and method: Resin composite specimens giomer (Beautifil II) Filtek™ P90, Filtek™ Z350 XT, and Tetric N Ceram were prepared in a cylindrical mould of 3mm thickness and 6mm diameter (n=10) and light cured . All specimens placed in silica-gel desiccators at 37˚C for seven days, a constant weight was obtained. All samples were immersed in deionized distill
... Show MoreWater contamination is a pressing global concern, especially regarding the presence of nitrate ions. This research focuses on addressing this issue by developing an effective adsorbent for removing nitrate ions from aqueous solutions. two adsorbents Chitosan-Zeolite-Zirconium (Cs-Ze-Zr composite beads and Chitosan-Bentonite-Zirconium Cs-Bn-Zr composite beads were prepared. The study involved continuous experimentation using a fixed bed column with varying bed heights (1.5 and 3 cm) and inlet flow rates (1 and 3 ml/min). The results showed that the breakthrough time increased with higher bed heights for both Cs-Ze-Zr and Cs-Bn-Zr composite beads. Conversely, an increase in flow rate led to a decrease in breakthrough time. Notab
... Show MoreThe research aim was to observe the distribution pattern of
The inhibitory behavior of L-Cysteine (Cys) and its derivatives towards iron corrosion through density functional theory (DFT) was investigated. The current research study undertakes a rigorous evaluation of global as well as local reactivity descriptors of the Cys in protonated as well as neutral forms and the changes in reactivity after the combination of Cys into di- and tripeptides. The inhibitory effect of di- and tri-peptides increases since, in the molecular structure, the number of reaction centers increase. We computed the adsorption energies (Eads) and low energy complexes with most stability for the adsorption of small peptides and Cys amino acids onto the surfaces of Fe (1 1 1). We found that the adsorption of tri-peptides onto
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