Top 10 biopolymer drilling fluid additives used in Africa’s mining industry.

Natural biopolymers decompose over time as a result of biological activity driven by bacteria, fungi, or other biological means. They are used as drilling fluid additives and their performance depends on their structural, functional and physical properties. These additives improve thermal properties of drilling fluids by acting as dispersants for bentonite preventing flocculation and by maintaining structural integrity at high temperatures, and improving the rheological properties of the drilling fluid.

Let’s dig deeper to take a look at the top 10 biopolymer drilling fluid additives used in Africa’s mining industry.

1. Xanthan gum

Xanthan gum is a natural water-soluble high molecular weight polysaccharide produced by a fermentation process. Owing to its exceptional rheological properties it is a very effective viscosifying agent for water-based drilling fluids. It is environmentally benign but is temperature sensitive and loses its ability to viscosify fluids beyond 90°C.?

2. Scleroglucan?

Scleroglucan is an extracellular polymeric substance of glucose produced by fungi. It is a high molecular weight, non-ionic polysaccharide. It has a better shear, salinity and thermal degradation resistance than xanthan gum. Its viscosifying behavior is similar to xanthan and it is also environmentally benign.?

3. Diutan gum?

Diutan gum is a natural high molecular weight gum produced by carefully controlled aerobic fermentation. It adopts a double helical conformation where the side chains screen the carboxylate groups of the backbone and prevent cross-linking by calcium ions. The rheological profile is shear thinning and it is more stable than xanthan gum.

4. Whelan gum?

Whelan gum is like Diutan gum, except that the side chains contain a single unit of either l-mannose or l-rhamnose. In aqueous solution, it adopts a double-helical conformation where the side chains screen the carboxylate groups of the backbone and prevent crosslinking by calcium ions. The rheological profile is shear thinning. It is stable above 90°C.

5. Gellant gum

Gellant gum is a water soluble anionic polysaccharide produced by the bacterium Sphingomonas elodea. It exhibits a sol-gel transition in which there is a conformational change from random coil to double helix during cooling followed by aggregation of the double helices. The thermal behavior is inferior to xanthan gum.?

6. Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC)

Hydroxyethyl cellulose polymer is a hydroxyethyl ether of cellulose, obtained by treating cellulose with sodium hydroxide and reacting with ethylene oxide. The polymer shows strong viscoelastic behavior in aqueous solution.?

7. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)

Carboxymethyl cellulose or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups bound to some of the hydroxyl groups of the glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone.?

8. Guar gum?

40% of the world’s Guar is used as additives in the drilling additive industry. Guar gum is a natural non-ionic polymer obtained from the annual agricultural crop Cyamopsis tetragonolobus and popularly known as guar bean, belonging to family leguminosae. Guar gum is used as a viscosifier for water well drilling.?

9. Potato starch?

Potato starch is a complex polymer of glucose and when placed in water it hydrates and results in swelling of the individual grains. Potato starch grains are very fine in nature in pure form. They are used to control seepage and filtrate loss in permeable formations and form a thin mud cake.?

10. Grass powder?

Grass powder is a biodegradable fine fibrous and non-toxic product utilized as a new alternate eco-friendly additive to compensate for other traditional chemical drilling additives. Grass is widely available everywhere and super-easy to collect and prepare.?

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