Insight into β-cyclodextrin polymer microsphere as a potential filtration reducer in water-based drilling fluids for high temperature application

Controlling the filtration of water-based drilling fluid effectively in high temperature environment is a great challenge in drilling engineering. In this study, β-cyclodextrin polymer microspheres (β-CDPMs) were synthesized by crosslinking between β-cyclodextrin and epichlorohydrin via inverse emulsion polymerization and employed as filtration reducers. The standard American Petroleum Institute filtration test showed that the β-CDPMs can only perform the enhanced filtration control ability at temperatures above 160 °C, and can tolerate the temperature resistance up to 240 °C without significant influence of rheology. As the thermal aging temperature is above 160 °C, numerous nano carbon spheres and nanostructured composites generated due to the occurrence of hydrothermal reaction. These high temperature stable nanoparticles bridged across the nano sized gaps and participated into forming dense filter cake, contributing to excellent filtration control. The filtration control mechanism proposed in this study opened a novel avenue for high temperature filtration control in water-based drilling fluids.