Experimental Investigation of Bio-Degradable Environmental Friendly Drilling Fluid Additives Generated from Waste

Abstract

With the increase in the environmental awareness across the oil and gas industry along with the strict environmental regulations related to drilling waste management, different practices have been applied to reduce the impact of drilling waste on the environment such as slim-hole drilling, effective solid control equipment, and environmental friendly drilling fluid additives. The main objective of these techniques is to reduce the volume of the disposed contaminated drill cuttings, therefore, reducing both impact on the environment and the cost related to drilling waste handling. This paper investigates the feasibility of using bio-degradable waste as an environmental friendly drilling fluid additives. A comprehensive experimental evaluation of different bio-degradable waste materials has been carried out to investigate their effectiveness in improving the different properties of water-based drilling fluids. These waste materials, which were prepared in-house, include but not limited to grass, corncobs, sugar cane, pomegranate peel, soya bean peel, etc. The additives were evaluated at different concentrations and mixtures and the various drilling fluids properties were measured, such as filtration, pH, and rheological properties. The filtration properties were evaluated using the standard low pressure low temperature API filter press. The results showed that some materials such as soya bean peel powder reduced the fluid loss up to 60% and improved the yield point and the gel strength up to 330 % and 640% with minor to no effect on the plastic viscosity, suggesting the applicability of using both additives as a rheology modifier and a filtration control agent. Other materials such as henna and tamarind gum outer reduced the pH dramatically, suggesting their applicability in being used as pH control agents, especially when drilling through cement. These promising results showed a good potential for these environmental friendly drilling fluid additives (EFDFA) that were generated from waste material to be used as an alternative for some of the toxic materials currently used in the industry. Using these additives, will contribute towards reducing both; the impact on the environment as well as the overall cost of drilling fluids and drilling waste handling.

A novel non-ionic surfactant extract derived from Chromolaena odarata as shale inhibitor in water based drilling mud

“…In drilling mud engineering there is increasing research into more usable, environmentally friendly water base muds. These muds are deployed to meet economic, technical and legal issues related to environmentally sensitive areas around the globe (Bol et al., 1994; Maulana et al., 2018; Asadi et al., 2018; Al-saba et al., 2018; Kumar et al., 2018; Lim et al., 2018; L. J. Hall et al., 2018; Meng et al., 2012; Tayab et al., 2018; An and Yu, 2018).…”

Study of Environmentally Friendly Wild Jujube Pit Powder as a Water-Based Drilling Fluid Additive

“…Al-Saba et al evaluated the effects of grass, corn cob, sugarcane, pomegranate skin, soybean skin, and coconut shell powder on drilling fluid performance. 16 The results show that soybean skin powder and coconut shell powder could reduce the filtration loss by more than 60% and have a great influence on the viscosity.…”

“…Al-hameedi et al modified a filtration loss additive from straw. , Compared with traditional starch filtration loss additive, the modified agent has better filtration loss control effect, better salt and calcium resistance, and less influence on the drilling fluid rheological property. Al-Saba et al evaluated the effects of grass, corn cob, sugarcane, pomegranate skin, soybean skin, and coconut shell powder on drilling fluid performance . The results show that soybean skin powder and coconut shell powder could reduce the filtration loss by more than 60% and have a great influence on the viscosity.…”

Development of a Nanobiodegradable Drilling Fluid Using Prosopis farcta Plant and Pomegranate Peel Powders with Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Therefore, several projects and experiments have been conducted for the purpose of mitigating the produced waste in the drilling and completion processes. 6 Therefore, pro-environmental research efforts have become interesting topics to promote the application of biodegradable and ecofriendly waste materials as drilling fluid additives. One of the attempts in this wok was searching and looking for the proper use of agro-waste in formulating the drilling fluids because most of the waste materials produced in agriculture industry are harmless to human beings and the environment.…”