GB2087952A - An additive for drill flushing liquids - Google Patents

Abstract

An additive with a lubricating action for drill flushing liquids, wherein biolipid extract or the phosphatide fraction obtainable from biolipid extract, alone or in admixture with conventional components, such as natural fatty acids, fats and/or the chemical reaction products thereof, in a mixing ratio of 10:1 to 1:10 is converted into a form which can be emulsified in water by sulphonation or by the addition of an anion-active, cation-active or non-ionogenic emulsifier and added to a drill flushing liquid in an amount of up to 10.0%.

Description

SPECIFICATION Additive for drill flushing liquids The present invention is concerned with an additive for drill flushing liquids with a lubricating action which is useful for geological drillings and deep drillings.

For cooling drilling toois, for removing drilled out material, as well as for maintaining the stability of the wall of the bore hole, use is made of flushing liquids of varying composition. Besides conventional requirements for drill flushings, friction- and wear-reducing properties are, in particular, required. A lubricating action proiongs the life of drilling bits and reduces the moment of rotation acting upon drill rods. It also makes possible an increase of the speed of rotation of the drilling tool in the case of constant working capacity of the drive and thus of the progress of drilling. A further acceleration of the breakdown of the rock takes place due to the reduction of the boundary stress between the flushing medium and the rock (Rehbinder effect).

The ensuring of the desired properties of the drill flushing is achieved by using flushing liquid additives which must not impair the other characteristics of the flushing liquid and must satisfy the requirements for maintaining the purity of water.

Amongst the lubricating additives hitherto suggested for use in aqueous drill flushing liquids, mention may be made of mineral oils and mineral oil sulphonates, tall oils and tall oil products, as well as natural fatty acids, triglycerides and the sulphonation products thereof. Thus, for example, German Democratic Republic Patent Specification No. 99,197 describes the use of a mixture of preponderantly unsaturated natural fatty acids, the salts thereof and the neutralised sulphonation products thereof, the proportion of the sulphonated fatty acids being about 50%. German Democratic Republic Patent Specification No.

76,450 describes the use of washing additives based upon long-chained natural or synthetic monocarboxylic acids or partly oxidised paraffin hydrocarbons and the saponification products thereof.

The known additives for drill flushing liquids more or less completely satisfy the requirements demanded of them. However, a substantial disadvantage is that the raw materials for the best suited washing additives, which are preferably natural fatty acids and oils, are not available in sufficient amount. Therefore, for economic reasons, a wide use thereof is not possible.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an additive for drill flushing liquids with a lubricating action which makes use of inexpensive and readily available raw materials.

The problem forming the basis of the present invention is to provide an additive for drill flushing liquids which reduce the wear of drilling tools and has a favourable action on the progress of drilling.

Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided an additive with a lubricating action for drill flushing liquids, wherein biolipid extract or the phosphatide fraction obtainable from biolipid extract, alone or in admixture with conventional components, such as natural fatty acids, fats and/or the chemical reaction products thereof, in a mixing ratio of 10:1 to 1:10 is converted into a form which can be emulsified in water by sulphonation or by the addition of an anion-active, cation-active or non-ionogenic emulsifier and added to a drill flushing liquid in an amount of up to 10.0%.

Biolipid extract is obtained as a by-product in large amounts in-the microbiological fermentation of hydrocarbons with yeasts or bacteria, after extraction of the biomass with low boiling solvents. It has a content of up to 80% of phosphatides and glycerides, as well as further biogenic component materials which can be dissolved in a hydrocarbon fraction, for example with a boiling range of about 510 to 650 K, The same effect is also achieved by the use of phosphatide fractions obtainable from the biolipid extract, preferably by treatment with acetone (see German Democratic Republic Patent Specification No. 217 269), as raw material for an additive for drill flushing liquids. The phosphatide fraction has a content of acetone-insoluble materials of at least 40% and preferably of 60 to 90%.

It is possible to employ the biolipid extract or the phosphatide fraction alone or in admixture with conventional components, preferably natural fatty acids, fats and/or the chemical reaction products thereof, as raw material for the additive for drill flushing liquids, the mixing ratio being 10:1 to 1:10.

The raw materials used according to the present invention are converted into a form of use which can be emulsified in water by appropriate chemical reaction or by the addition of tensides.

The appropriate chemical reaction can be a sulphonation of the raw materials, preferably with sulphur trioxide, chloro-sulphonic acid, sulphuric acid of a bisulphite, and subsequent neutralisation of the reaction products with alkali metal hydroxides, ammonium hydroxide or amines.

However, anion-active, cation-active or noniogenic tensides can also be used for improving the emulsifiability of the raw materials in water in amounts of up to 20% and preferably of 5 to 10%, referred to the final additive for the drill flushing liquid. Non-ionogenic emulsifiers based upon ethoxylated alkyl-phenols, fatty acids or fatty alcohols have proved to be especially useful.

The additive according to the present invention for drill flushing liquids is, in practice, added to the usual kinds of flushing liquids in amounts of up to 10% and preferably of 0.5 to 5%.

The use of the additive according to the present invention in drill liquids results in a substantial improvement of the frictional behaviour, without the other washing characteristics, such as giving up of water, viscosity, gel strength and stability of the drill flushing, being disadvantageously changed. It would appear that the surprisingly good overall properties of the drill liquid depend upon the outstanding surface-active properties of the phosphatides which, together with further component materials of the biolipid extract, have a synergistic action. The biolipid extract and the phosphatide fraction are, because of their content of phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing compounds, substantially biologically decomposable.

By the use of biolipid extract or of the phosphatide fraction thereof, which are obtained in large amounts as by-products in the microbiological production of feed yeast, considerable amounts of conventional components for additives for drill flushing liquids, especially natural fatty acids and oils, which are only available to a limited extent, can be replaced.

The following Examples are given for the purpose of illustrating the present invention.

EXAMPLE 1 A flushing liquid consisting of 0.3% by weight of sodium carbonate, 18% by weight of illite clay, 3% by weight of sulphonated biolipid extract and water was homogenised.

The biolipid extract employed had the following composition: phosphatides 34.5% by weight glycerides 17.5% by weight other biogenic 8.0% by weight component materials hydrocarbons 40.0% by weight The biolipid extract was sulphonated with chloro-sulphonic acid. The lubricating value of this flushing liquid, measured asccording to German Democratic Republic Industrial Standard No. TGL 23033/16, was 0.16, whereas the lubricating value of the flushing liquid without the additive according to the present invention was 0.42.

EXAMPLE 2 A flushing liquid consisting of 2.0% by weight of biolipid extract and non-ionogenic tenside (ratio 90:10) and 98.0% by weight of water was homogenised.

The biolipid extract used had the same composition as that used in Example 1 and the non-ionogenic tenside used was a reaction product of dodecylphenol with 14 to 15 moles of ethylene oxide.

The lubrication value of this flushing liquid, measured according to German Democratic Republic Industrial Standard No. TGL 23033/16, was 0.10, whereas the lubricating value of the flushing liquid without the additive according to the present invention was 0.32.

EXAMPLE 3 A flushing liquid consisting of 18% by weight of illite clay, 1.0% by weight of carboxymethylcellulose, 0.3% by weight of sodium carbonate, 0.1% by weight of chromium lignosulphate, 2.0% by weight of an additive according to the present invention and water was homogenised.

The additive according to the present invention consisted of a mixture of 50% by weight of biolipid extract and 50% by weight of natural unsaturated fatty acids, which had been sulphonated with sulphuric acid.

The lubricating value of this flushing liquid, measured according to German Democratic Republic Industrial Standard No. TGL 23033/16, was 0.08, whereas the lubricating value of the flushing liquid without the additive according to the present invention was > 0.5.

Claims (6)

1. An additive with a lubricating action for drill flushing liquids, wherein biolipid extract or the phosphatide fraction obtainable from biolipid extract, alone or in admixture with conventional components, such as natural fatty acids, fats and/or the chemical reaction products thereof, in a mixing ratio of 10:1 to 1:10 is converted into a form which can be emulsified in water by sulphonation or by the addition of an anion-active, cation-active or non-inorganic emulsifier and added to a drill flushing liquid in an amount of up to 10.0%.

2. An additive according to claim 1, wherein sulphur trioxide, chlorosulphonic acid, sulphuric acid or a bisulphide is used for the sulphonation.

3. An additive according to claim 1, wherein the anion-active, cation-active and/or non-ionogenic emulsifier is added to an amount of up to 20% by weight.

4. An additive according to claim 3, wherein the anion-active, cation-active and/or non-ionogenic emulsifier is added in an amount of from 5.0 to 10% by weight.

5. An additive according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the additive is added to a drill flushing liquid in an amount of from 0.5 to 5.0% by weight.

6. An additive according to claim 1 for drill flushing liquids, substantially as hereinbefore described and exemplified.