# US 10,119,061 B2 · Organoclay compositions for drilling fluids useful to provide substantially constant rheology profiles to such fluids over a wide temperature range > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,119,061 B2 - Document ID: US10119061B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/347,065 - Filed: 2016-11-09 - Published: 2017-02-23 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2014-07-11 - Assignees: Elementis Specialties, Inc. - Applicants: Elementis Specialties, Inc. - Inventors: David Dino; Wouter Ijdo; Jeffrey Thompson; Kamal Said Kamal Elsayed - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10119061B2 ## CPC - C09K 8/32: Non-aqueous well-drilling compositions, e.g. oil-based - C09K: MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE ## Abstract A method of providing a substantially constant rheological profile of an oil-based drilling fluid over a temperature range of about 120° F. to about 40° F., comprising adding drilling fluid additive to the drilling fluid, wherein the drilling fluid additive comprises an organoclay composition comprising: organoclay compositions where a phyllosilicate clay is exchanged with quaternary ammonium ions having a formula of [NR1R2R3R4]+ wherein at least one of R1, R2 and R3 is a mixture of branched alkyl groups. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of providing a substantially constant equivalent circulating density of an oil-based drilling fluid over a temperature range of about 120° F. to about 40° F., comprising adding drilling fluid additive to the drilling fluid, wherein the drilling fluid additive comprises an organoclay composition comprising: a phyllosilicate clay; and a mixture of quaternary ammonium ions, each ion having a formula of [N—R1R2R3R4]+ wherein one or more of R1, R2 and R3 is each a mixture of branched alkyl groups, each branched alkyl group having 12 to 22 total carbon atoms, a linear backbone and one or more C1 to C3 branching alkyl groups each being linked to the linear backbone, wherein within each quaternary ammonium ion and within the mixture of branched alkyl groups, the branching alkyl groups are linked to the linear backbones at different carbon positions along the linear backbones as a distribution; and wherein when one or more of R2 and R3 is not a branched alkyl group, R2 and R3 are a first linear alkyl group having 1 to 22 carbon atoms, wherein R4 is selected from the group consisting of a second linear alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, an aryl group and combinations thereof. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein R1 is a mixture of branched alkyl groups. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein R1 and R2 are each a mixture of branched alkyl groups. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein R1, R2 and R3 are each a mixture of branched alkyl groups. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein one or more of R2 and R3 are each a linear alkyl group having 1 to 22 total carbon atoms. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, wherein one or more of R2 and R3 are each a linear alkyl group having 12 to 22 total carbon atoms. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method according to claim 6, wherein one or more of R2 and R3 are each a linear alkyl group having 1 to 6 total carbon atoms. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein R4 is independently selected from the group consisting of a benzyl group, a methyl group, an ethyl group, a propyl group, a butyl group, a pentyl group or a hexyl group. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein one of R2, R3 and R4 is methyl. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein R2 and R3 are methyl and R4 is benzyl. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein each branched alkyl group has a distribution of branching points distributed along the linear backbone of the branched alkyl group ranging from a 2 carbon atom position on the linear backbone, counting from a 1 carbon atom position which is bonded to N+, to a ω-2 carbon atom position, where co is a terminal carbon atom position on the linear backbone. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein each branched alkyl group has 12 to 18 carbon atoms. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method according to claim 12, wherein each branched alkyl group has 14 to 18 carbon atoms. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the linear backbone contains less than 0.5 atom % of quaternary carbon atoms. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the linear backbone is substantially free of quaternary carbon atoms. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein a methyl branch is at least 50% of the branching alkyl groups based on the total number of branches. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the phyllosilicate clay comprises a smectite clay. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein said smectite clay is selected from the group consisting of: montmorillonite, bentonite, hectorite, saponite, stevensite and beidellite. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein said smectite clay is selected from bentonite and hectorite, and mixtures thereof. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, the drilling fluid additive having sufficient quaternary ammonium ions to satisfy 50 to 150 percent of phyllosilicate cation exchange capacity.