Application of Xanthan Gum in Petroleum Industry

Xanthan gum drilling fluid is a big market. At present, the chemicals used in China's oilfields are mainly polyacrylamide, CMC, modified starch, etc., resulting in high drilling costs and low oil production rates.

Xanthan gum products are far more potent than other polymers in thickening, thickening, salt-resistance and pollution resistance, especially for drilling in oceans, beaches, high-halogen layers and permafrost layers. Xanthan gum is used for mud treatment and well completion. It has significant effects on fluid and tertiary oil recovery. It has obvious effects on accelerating drilling speed, preventing oil wells from collapsing, protecting oil and gas fields, preventing blowouts, and greatly improving oil recovery. As an ideal additive, this product has excellent development prospects.

Ⅰ. Xanthan gum oil in the drilling industry

Drilling fluid is the operating fluid used in the drilling process. During the drilling process, the drilling fluid plays an important role. People often compare the drilling fluid to "drilling blood". Its function is:

1. Suspend and carry cuttings, clean the bottom of the well.

2. Lubricate and cool the bit, increase the bit footage, and impact the formation through the water hole of the bit, which is conducive to breaking the rock.

3. Form a mud cake to increase the stability of the good wall.

4. Establish a liquid column pressure that can balance the formation pressure.

When using turbodrills, it can be used as a liquid for transmitting power to prevent complex accidents such as jams, collapses, leaks, sprays, etc.

Xanthan gum oil is one of its main components. The function of xanthan gum is to increase viscosity and shear force and improve the suspending ability to drill fluid, which is indispensable for drilling fluid to perform its functions.

Ⅱ. Xanthan gum drilling fluid can increase oil recovery efficiency

Among the various methods for enhancing oil recovery, polymer flooding occupies an important position. The role of the polymer is to adjust the rheology of water injection, increase the viscosity of the driving fluid, and improve the sweep efficiency of water flooding. Reduce the permeability of the formation water phase so that the water and oil can flow forward at a uniform speed. This type of polymer must have excellent viscosity-increasing performance under reservoir conditions and a high viscosity retention rate under the action of temperature, pressure, and salt.

Because the xanthan gum oil solution has good viscosity, rheology, water-solubility, chemical stability, and solid mechanical resistance to degradation. It can be used as a displacement agent for oilfield exploitation. Compared with the general hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, its physical and chemical properties are stable, the processing technology is simple, the oil displacement effect is good, and the manufacturing cost is low. Because of its good resistance to shear degradation, it can selectively flow in the formation. The better oil displacement effect has been gradually used as a displacement agent to improve oilfield recovery or a chemical profile control agent to improve oilfield recovery.

The physical simulation experiment further shows that the xanthan gum drilling fluid improves oil recovery, and it is a kind of oil field exploitation displacement agent with excellent performance. After completing primary and secondary oil extraction using conventional methods, more than 50% of the oil remains in the rock formations that cannot be recovered.

Based on economic and energy considerations, people are paying more and more attention to improving the recovery rate of oil. The process of injecting water into oil rock formations is used for secondary oil extraction. However, the relative mobility of the injected fluid and the viscous crude oil leaves a lot of oil remains in the downhole.

If a thickening polymer is added to the injection liquid, the fluidity of the water can be reduced, thereby increasing the oil recovery rate. Many kinds of polymers can be used as flow control agents for oil recovery, among which xanthan gum oil is considered to have more application potential. Xanthan gum has many basic conditions necessary to improve oil recovery.