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A study was conducted to develop analytical methods suitable for the characterization of the nonextractable organic mud additives (organic polymers) in drilling mud formulations and sediments. Two analytical techniques were evaluated for this purpose: analytical pyrolysis, which involves pyrolysis gas chromatography and pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of organic polymers, and a cupric oxide oxidation technique, which is specific for the analysis of lignin-derived organic matter (lignosulfonates). The pyrolysis technique was suitable for characterizing and distinguishing between individual drilling mud additives. However, upon formulating those additives into drilling muds (bentonite, barite, and caustic) and sediments, their relative abundance and total pyrolysis yields decreased greatly. This decrease in abundance and yields in pyrolysis products is thought to be caused by the catalytic and/or sorptive effects of the clay matrix during pyrolysis. As a result, we conclude that the pyrolysis technique has limited application to the characterization of organic polymers in drilling fluids and sediments. The cupric oxide oxidation technique was a sensitive specific indicator of lignosulfonates and, to a lesser extent, lignites in mud formulations. The major oxidation products of the technique are vanillyl phenols, with concentrations that vary, presumably according to lignosulfonate purity, but make up more than 90% of the total lignin-derived oxidation products. Vanillyl phenol content and total lignin content were identified as the most suitable tracers of drilling mud discharges.

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Hexagonal zirconia doped CuS nanaocomposites were successfully synthesized through a simple mild hydrothermal synthesis. The higher dopent concentration of zirconia produces increased mesoporous homogeneous nanostructures. The structure and nature of the resulting product (Zr-CuS) were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM/EDS and TEM techniques. The results show that zirconia is homogeneously dispersed on CuS and well separated from one another. Electrochemical studies show that the final product (Zr-CuS) possesses high specific surface area. An increase in zirconia concentration might increase the mesopore volume and a widening of microporosity. Zirconia doped CuS composite exhibits high electrochemical performance with a high capacitance of 949.47 F g-1. The presence of zirconia in CuS improves the capacitive behaviour of samples. Therefore, Zr-CuS could be promising nanocomposite for energy storage device.