Oil-based mud (OBM) waste from the oil and gas exploration industry can be valorised to tailor-made reclaimed clay-reinforced low-density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites. This study aims to fill the information gap in the literature and to provide opportunities to explore the effective recovery and recycling techniques of the resources present in the OBM waste stream. Elemental analysis using inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and X-ray fluorescence analysis, chemical structural analysis by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and morphological analysis of LDPE/organo-modified montmorillonite (LDPE/MMT) and LDPE/OBM slurry nanocomposites by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been conducted. Further analysis including calorimetry, thermogravimetry, spectroscopy, microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was carried out to evaluate the thermo-chemical characteristics of OBM waste and OBM clay-reinforced LDPE nanocomposites, confirming the presence of different clay minerals including inorganic salts in OBM slurry powder. The microscopic analysis revealed that the distance between polymer matrix and OBM slurry filler is less than that of MMT, which suggests better interfacial adhesion of OBM slurry compared with the adhesion between MMT and LDPE matrix. This was also confirmed by XRD analysis, which showed the superior delamination structure OBM slurry compared with the structure of MMT. There is a trend noticeable for both of these fillers that the nanocomposites with higher percentage filler contents (7.5 and 10.0 wt% in this case) were indicated to act as a thermal conductive material. The heat capacity values of nanocomposites decreased about 33% in LDPE with 7.5 wt% MMT and about 17% in LDPE with 10.0 wt% OBM slurry. It was also noted, for both nanocomposites, that the residue remaining after 1000°C increases with the incremental wt% of fillers in the nanocomposites. There is a big difference in residue amount (in %) left after thermogravimetric analysis in the two nanocomposites, indicating that OBM slurry may have significant influence in decomposing LDPE matrix; this might be an interesting area to explore in the future. The results provide insight and opportunity to manufacture waste-derived renewable nanocomposites with enhanced structural and thermal properties.

可以利用油气勘探行业中的油基泥浆（OBM）废物来定制定制的再生粘土增强低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）纳米复合材料。这项研究旨在填补文献中的信息空白，并为探索OBM废物流中存在的资源的有效回收和再循环技术提供机会。使用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICP-OES）和X射线荧光分析进行元素分析，通过傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱进行化学结构分析，以及LDPE /有机改性蒙脱土（LDPE / MMT）和已经通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）进行了LDPE / OBM浆料纳米复合材料的研究。进一步的分析包括量热法，热重法，光谱学，显微镜，进行了能量色散X射线分析和X射线衍射（XRD），以评估OBM废料和OBM粘土增强的LDPE纳米复合材料的热化学特性，证实了OBM浆料粉末中存在包括无机盐在内的不同粘土矿物。显微分析表明，聚合物基质与OBM浆料填料之间的距离小于MMT，这表明OBM浆料的界面粘合性比MMT与LDPE基质之间的粘合性好。XRD分析也证实了这一点，XRD分析显示出与MMT结构相比，OBM浆料具有更好的分层结构。对于这两种填料，都有明显的趋势，表明具有较高百分比的填料含量（在这种情况下为7.5和10.0 wt％）的纳米复合材料可充当导热材料。在MME为7.5 wt％的LDPE中，纳米复合材料的热容值下降了约33％，在OBM浆为10.0 wt％的LDPE中，纳米复合材料的热容值下降了约17％。还注意到，对于两种纳米复合材料，在1000℃之后残留的残余物随着纳米复合材料中填料的增量wt％而增加。热重量分析后，两种纳米复合材料中残留的残留量（％）差异很大，这表明OBM浆液可能对分解LDPE基质有重大影响。这将来可能是一个有趣的领域。结果为制造具有增强的结构和热性能的源自废物的可再生纳米复合材料提供了见识和机会。对于两种纳米复合材料，在1000℃后残留的残留物随着纳米复合材料中填料的wt％的增加而增加。热重量分析后，两种纳米复合材料中残留的残留量（％）差异很大，这表明OBM浆液可能对分解LDPE基质有重大影响。这将来可能是一个有趣的领域。结果为制造具有增强的结构和热性能的源自废物的可再生纳米复合材料提供了见识和机会。对于两种纳米复合材料，在1000℃后残留的残留物随着纳米复合材料中填料的wt％的增加而增加。热重量分析后，两种纳米复合材料中残留的残留量（％）差异很大，这表明OBM浆液可能对分解LDPE基质有重大影响。这将来可能是一个有趣的领域。结果为制造具有增强的结构和热性能的源自废物的可再生纳米复合材料提供了见识和机会。表明OBM浆料可能对LDPE基质的分解产生重大影响; 这将来可能是一个有趣的领域。结果为制造具有增强的结构和热性能的源自废物的可再生纳米复合材料提供了见识和机会。表明OBM浆料可能对LDPE基质的分解产生重大影响; 这将来可能是一个有趣的领域。结果为制造具有增强的结构和热性能的源自废物的可再生纳米复合材料提供了见识和机会。