Influence of alcohol route and surfactant/clay ratio in the process of bentonite clays organophilization and their rheological properties in non-aqueous media

Bentonite clays can be defined as clays consisting predominantly of the smectite group clay minerals, particularly montmorillonite. Naturally, the bentonite clays are not organophilic, these can be modified by treatment with specific surfactants (ionic or nonionic), turning from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. The organophilic clays are widely used as viscosifying agents in the mixture of components used for oil and water well drilling among other uses. Recent studies have demonstrated the influence of clay type, the presence of surfactant and dispersant on rheology. In this study we verified the influence of alcoholic route, clay and surfactant content in the production of organophilic clays and in the final rheological behavior in non-aqueous media. Thus, we performed the characterization of samples of clays by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis and particle size analysis. The organoclays were characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. Finally, dispersions were produced according to standards by Petrobras to perform normalization rheological tests. The results indicated that there is the influence of clay/surfactant ratio and the alcoholic route on the rheological properties of dispersions.

rheology; surfactant content; clay content; alcoholic route