Clay minerals contain different types of alumina-silicates, the main types of which change from one to another in natural conditions over a billion years [16–18]. The alumina-silicate skeleton in clays consists mainly of alternating parallel two-dimensional sheets formed by a silicate tetrahedron and an aluminium octahedron [19–21]. The location of these sheets and the degree and nature of exchange within them determine the chemical and physical properties of materials, including the adsorption properties.
Natural alumina-silicates can be divided into two groups depending on their crystal lattice–crystalline and amorphous [21–22]. Amorphous alumina-silicates are characterised by their ability to swell in the ion-exchange process, similar to ion-exchange resins.
Three types of bentonite clay in the Tagan MMT deposit were fixed: alkaline (pink colour), alkaline earth and pharmaceutical. Owing to the peculiarities of the genesis of the Tagan deposit, the different properties of MMTs and bentonite clays make it possible to use them in various industrial technologies. Alkaline bentonites are used to produce drilling fluids.
The complete chemical composition of the clay was determined by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at the Centre for Physicochemical Methods and Analysis of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Table 1 lists the chemical composition.
Table 1
Oxide chemical composition of Tagan clay
The amount of oxides in the mineral
|
СаO
|
MgO
|
Fe2O3
|
Al2O3
|
SiO2
|
Na2O
|
K2O
|
The residue after burning
|
Quantitative proportion of oxides in raw MMT mineral, %
|
15
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
30
|
1.5
|
4
|
69.5
|
Quantitative proportion of oxides in the mineral Na–MMT, %
|
4
|
0.9
|
4
|
9.8
|
31
|
0.6
|
0.91
|
84.8
|
Many other elements and oxides were found in the clay composition, along with Fe, Al, Si, Zn, Ti, Ca and Mn, by determining the elemental composition of Tagan bentonite and X-ray fluorescence analysis. In addition, the composition of Tagan MMT was calcium–sodium MMT because of the large amount of calcium for determining the elemental composition. The MMT of the Tagan deposit was isolated from the calcium and magnesium ions by performing decantation washing, thermal activation and acid activation operations. In addition, the swelling property, ion-exchange capacity and inter-pack spaces of the clay also increased.
MMT undergoes self-dispersion in aqueous media and spreads into individual plates up to 1 nm thick and 20–250 nm in diameter [23–24] as shown in Fig. 1.
X-ray analysis was performed to determine the mineral composition of Tagan bentonite and organo-сlay. Tables 2 and 3 lists the results.
Table 2
Mineral composition of Tagan MMT
Mineral
|
Formula
|
Quantity,%
|
MMT
|
(Na,Н)0.3(Al,Mg, Ca)2Si4O10(OH)2·xH2O
|
96.4
|
Quartz
|
SiO2
|
3.6
|
Table 3
Mineral composition of Tagan organo-clay
Mineral
|
Formula
|
Quantity,%
|
MMT
|
(Na,Н)0.3(Al,Mg, Ca)2Si4O10(OH)2·xH2O
|
94–97
|
Quartz
|
SiO2
|
2–4
|
Amorphous phase
|
-
|
1–2
|
The mineral composition of Tagan bentonite and organo-clay by XRD revealed the mineral MMT, quartz and amorphous phases.
Several methods for the hydrophobisation of MMT are currently used. The most common methods for the hydrophobisation of MMT include surface modification, modifier intercalation and bio-hydrophobisation methods [25]. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and the requirements depend on the choice and research goals of the method and the requirements for the final product. For example, the bio-hydrophobisation method is environmentally friendly and effective in some cases. Hence, the choice of hydrophobisation method should be based on a thorough assessment of the requirements of the final product and the possibilities of using various methods, considering their advantages and disadvantages [26].
In structural arrangements, some Si4+ ions in the crystal are exchanged with Al3+ ions, which results in an excess negative charge that is compensated for by the alkali and alkaline earth cations, which are not bound in the lattice and can exchange for other cations [23,27–35]. Accordingly, clay particles can have uncompensated negative charges on the surface, and an interaction between amino groups and clay particles can also be conducted by forming hydrogen bonds.
The mechanism for the adsorption of cationic surfactants on the surface of clay particles involves electrostatic interactions. These interactions can be observed in the diagram below as an example of the interaction of clay particles and alkylammonium bromide (AlkAB) (Figs. 2a and 2b).
The clay mineral was hydrophobised using the intercalation method. The primary consideration was selecting the optimal hydrophobiser. A drop of water was placed on the surfaces of organo-clay powder treated with various hydrophobisers, and the water contact angles were measured using the Goniometer LK-1. Table 4 lists the contact angles found for each of the organo-clays.
Table 4. Contact angles of waterdrops planted on the surface of various types of organo-modified clay powders
Among the organo-clays in Table 4, the maximum contact angle was 170° with TKAB. This result can be explained by the structure of the TKAB molecule having four long non-polar hydrocarbon chains that give it four times more hydrophobicity than the others. The end side of hydrocarbon TKAB has few spaces when tightly packed together compared to that of CPB, which has a benzene ring on the end, so even with the greatest concentration, the maximum water contact angle did not exceed 128°. As for the others, the contact angles of the waterdrops at a low superhydrophobiser concentration (0.1 M) were higher than those at a high concentration (1 M), shown in Table 4. In particular, the contact angle decreased from 39° to 9° in the case of CPB, and it decreased from 135° to 128° in the case of TMODAB. Upon increasing the hydrophobiser concentration, the contact angle of the organo-clays also decreased. This decrease depends on the features of these molecules, i.e. the position and chain length that the molecule occupies on the surface of a solid particle. Such a deviation occurred from an excessive surfactant concentration. Therefore, the surfactant molecule forms a bilayer, resulting in a reverse hydrophilic surface [36–41], as shown in Fig. 3.
The contact angles of waterdrops increased in another group of hydrophobisers as the concentration of the surfactant molecule increased.
Figure 4 shows changes in the optically observed light conductivity values of the suspension of organo-clays obtained by various hydrophobisers in the diesel fuel liquid for a certain period. Experimental measurements of the sedimentation kinetics revealed that the organo-clay obtained in the presence of TKAB exhibited the lowest light transmittance and its equivalent was 23%. The organo-clay with the highest contact angle (170°) was used in the following investigations. The organo-clay obtained only in the presence of TKAB was used because this is the most necessary superhydrophobic surfactant. Figure 5 shows the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, which were obtained to ensure that TKAB had adsorbed on the clay surface.
The FTIR spectra revealed the intercalation of surfactants into the inter-layer space of MMT. FTIR spectroscopy is a universal method for studying a solid using computerised optical methods to observe the functional groups, especially those that determine the surface groups of atoms of a clay mineral. The results (Fig. 5) showed the oscillations of Si–O–Si bonds in the wide bands at 1036 сm− 1. The peaks at 471 cm− 1 and 527 cm− 1 reflect the oscillations of the Me–O bond. The peak at 914 cm− 1 was assigned to the oscillation of Si–О–Si bonds. The peaks at 3100–3500 сm− 1 (particularly 3627 cm− 1) were attributed to bound water molecules in the MMT molecule, and the peak at 1631 сm− 1 was assigned to deformation oscillations that reflect hydrogen bonds.
The peaks at 1444–1469 cm− 1 were assigned to C–H stretching modes, indicating C–H bonds. The peaks on 2850.91 сm− 1, 2954.66 сm− 1, 2872.68 сm− 1, 2994.66 сm− 1 and 2920.56 сm− 1 were assigned to –CH2– and –CH3 bonds. These results showed that the adsorption of TKAB takes place on the surface of MMT.
DSC and TGA revealed a weight loss between 140°C–200°C. These results revealed that various interphase changes occur here (green curve in Fig. 6). During the process, the weight decreased as the temperature increased, i.e. water was removed from the material and it became more crystalline [31]. The weight change was 15.788 mg. In addition, the melting point changed (purple curve).
The organo-clay obtained by TKAB showed more significant weight loss than Na–MMT (Fig. 7). Hence, the hydrocarbon chain containing TKAB was oxidised in the presence of oxygen and was released in the form of CO2. It undergoes phase changes and releases gas as oxides, leading to significant weight loss. The mass of the organo-clay obtained in the presence of TKAB was 15.577 mg lower than that of Na–MMT. TKAB causes a certain amount of clay to merge into single particles in the inter-layer space between them.
The production of drilling fluids with an organic medium, not a water environment, releases significant amounts of heat. Therefore, a drilling fluid was developed using diesel fuel as an anhydrous medium, and its technical characteristics were determined. The complete process of producing drilling fluid based on organo-clay in an anhydrous medium is illustrated in Fig. 8. Figures 9a and 9b show time-lapse images in diesel fuel fluid for 48 hours.
The drilling fluid was prepared following the requirements for all drilling fluids, and the technical characteristics, such as the density, viscosity and pH of the medium, were examined. Tables 5–6 show these characteristics.
Thixotropic properties are observed in high-viscosity and bituminous oils because they are complex, high-molecular-weight compounds. Such properties in oil can be found in paraffins, resins and asphaltenes. Figure 10 shows the viscosity of the time-dependent liquids during shear stress.
The thixotropic properties of drilling fluids containing organo-clays were measured within 48 hours (Fig. 10). The rheological changes were completed within 24 hours. The technical descriptions of the drilling fluid and the Kumkol Field oil were relatively close to each other, and the polymer solution could form a sliding layer in the drilling well, providing an optimal effect on the light movement of the wellbore. Thus, this drilling fluid can be used to drill Kumkol oil and similar field oils.