Over the years, the oil industries have avoided aromatic, naphthenic, and paraffinic oils as drilling mud base fluids principally\nbecause of their detrimental environmental issues on pelagic and benthic marine ecosystems as a result of their toxicity and\nnonbiodegradability coupled with the possible deterioration of the oil itself and the rubber parts of the drilling equipment because\nthe aromatic hydrocarbons present in the oil have a tendency to dissolve/damage elastomers present in rubber. Hence, possible\ninsights into how to chemically and/or physically produce synthetic base drilling fluids whose cuttings are nontoxic, readily\nbiodegradable, environmentally friendly, and of nonpetroleum source become imperative. In this study, enzymatic interesterification\nof canola oil was done with ethanol by using enzyme lipase as catalyst under optimum conditions of temperature and\npressure and the physicochemical properties of the produced ester were evaluated and compared with that of diesel and a synthetic\nhydrocarbon base fluid (SHBF). Results show that the specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, dynamic viscosity, and surface tension\nof canola oil were reduced by 5.50%, 94.74%, 95.03%, and 9.38%, respectively, upon enzymatic interesterification to conform to\nstandard requirements. Similarly, increased |mud ability to pump fluids and possibility of cold temperature environment can be\nachieved with the reduction in pour point and cloud point, respectively, of the produced canola oil ester. Finally, the produced\nester showed no aromatic content as confirmed from its FTIR analysis which indicates its nontoxicity, biodegradability, and\nenvironmental friendliness.
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