Field Trials of Plugging Oil and Gas Wells with Hydrated Bentonite

Towler, Brian F.; Firouzi, Mahshid; Holl, Heinz-Gerd; Gandhi, R. J.; Thomas, A.

doi:10.2118/182199-ms

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…In order to improve emplacement and subsequent plugging performance, at the University of Queensland bentonite is pressed into a bullet geometry with a cone shaped tip and a center hole that allows fluid to pass through and stabilise the fall of the plug to the final setting depth [4] [5]. Bentonite products in different forms have also been used for abandonment operations on various well types.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of Geomechanical Properties of Bentonite Clay Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations of Coal Seam Gas Wells

Holl¹,

Scheuermann²

2018

JMMCE

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Compressed bentonite in the form of pellets or plugs is used for the abandonment of production wells for the oil and gas industry. The design of the abandonment systems is based on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of the compressed bentonite defined by mechanical parameters that are used from published data rather than quantified for the used material by laboratory investigations. This paper presents an experimental study on characterising the swelling and shear strength behaviour of raw and polymer (polyvinylpyrrolidone, PVP) treated bentonite. Dislodgement tests consist of three hydrated bentonite plugs inserted in steel casings with the failure mechanism characterised. The bentonite used comes from a local mine (in Queensland, Australia) and is comparable to other bentonites usually used for the abandonment of wells or for other problems where mineral sealing is required (e.g. basal clay barriers of landfills). The experiments have shown that polymer treated bentonite shows significantly larger shear strengths than raw bentonite with simultaneously less swelling. More compressed samples also showed higher shear strengths and less swelling. The dislodgement tests have characterised for the first time the cascaded failure mechanism of a series of plugs forming an abandonment system. This investigation is the first step towards the development of an improved design for abandonment systems for wells using bentonite plugs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of Geomechanical Properties of Bentonite Clay Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations of Coal Seam Gas Wells

Holl¹,

Scheuermann²

2018

JMMCE

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“…Water was refilled weekly at the top to assure a constant water head on the installed bentonite. This experiment was designed for two purposes: to test the long term failure behavior of the plugs and to examine the "self-healing" ability of the plugged section after being dislodged [7].…”

Section: Results Of the 1398 MM Id Pipe Sectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bentonite plugs with an outer diameter (OD) of 88.9 mm (3. Raw bentonite treated with potable water and 1 weight% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)is pressed into a bullet geometry with a cone shaped tip and a center hole that allows fluid to pass through the plug and stabilize the fall through a water column to the final setting depth [5] [7]. A hydraulic pressure of 16.5 MPa (2400 psi) is applied during the production process, which is equal to 25.8 metric tons compression weight for the 139.7 mm (5.5") plugs.…”

Section: Materials and Plug Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydraulic Testing of Compacted Bentonite Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations

Holl¹

2019

JMMCE

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The University of Queensland Centre for Coal Seam Gas (UQ CCSG) has investigated plugging wells with bentonite through laboratory experiments and with field trials. This paper presents the laboratory tests, which were used to investigate the stability range of plugged sections for later well plug and abandonment operation designs. The plugs were tested on a specially built well simulator facility at The University of Queensland (UQ), School of Chemical Engineering. The bentonite material used for the plug production was treated with water and 1 weight% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) which acted as a binder to allow the bentonite to be pressed into a cylindrical shape suitable for dropping into vertical wells. The experiments have shown that the best performing plug/casing size combination is able to hold pressure gradients of up to 5.9 bar/m (25.9 psi/ft) after 296 days of hydration before failing. Open hole simulations on the testing facility showed surprisingly high failure pressure gradients of 21.1 bar/m (93.3 psi/ft) after 146 days of hydration. The findings of this research indicate that the use of compressed bentonite is a viable method for sealing wells, whether they can be coal seam gas wells, conventional oil and gas wells, water wells, or coal exploration wells.

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“…Perusahaan ini mengalami permasalahan di salah satu peralatannya yaitu coal feederunit 1-4 yang sering terjadi coal plugging atau penyumbatan batubara [1].Coal feeder berfungsi untuk mengatur jumlah batubara yang masuk ke pulverizer. Jumlah batubara yang masuk ke pulverizer berubah-ubah sesuai dengan beban unit pembangkit [2]. Oleh karena itu, outputcoal feeder pun berubah-ubah sesuai kebutuhannya.Pengaturan output coal feederdapat dilakukan dengan dua cara yaitu dengan motor penggerak yang putarannya dapat diatur (variable speedmotor) atau dengan motor putaran tetap yang dilengkapi dengan variable speed drive [3].…”

Section: Pendahuluanunclassified

Analisis Coal Plugging Atau Penyumbatan Batu Bara Pada Mesin Coal Feeder Unit 1-4 Dengan Metode FTA (Fault Tree Analysis) Di PT. ABZ

Anthony¹

2020

jatiunik. jurnal. ilm. teknik. manaj. industri.

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PT. ABZ is one of the big companies that runs its main business in the field of power generation in Indonesia. The company is experiencing problems in one of its equipment, namely coal feeder units 1-4 which often occurs coal plugging or coal blockage. Coal feeder is one of the main equipment that serves to regulate the amount of coal entering the pulverizer. This study aims to determine the root cause of problems from coal plugging or coal obstruction in coal feeder equipment at PT. ABZ using the FTA (Fault Tree Analysis) Method and provides a proposed improvement with the 5W + 1 H Method (what, why, who, when, where and how). Based on the analysis using FTA, it was found that the cause of coal plugging or blockage that occurs in coal feeder machines is due to contamination of the coal used, low calorific value of coal, the machine operates continuously, the machine is old, lack of control from the workers and coal wet when you want to use. Proposed improvements have been made and one of them is by separating wet coal from dry coal automatically using a coal online analyzer. Keyword : Coal Plugging, Coal Feeder, Fault Tree Analysis PT. ABZ merupakan salah satu perusahaan besar yang menjalankan bisnis utamanya dibidang pembangkit tenaga listrik di Indonesia. Perusahaan ini mengalami permasalahan di salah satu peralatannya yaitu coal feeder unit 1-4 yang sering terjadi coal plugging atau penyumbatan batubara. Coal feeder merupakan salah satu peralatan utama yang berfungsi untuk mengatur jumlah batubara yang masuk ke pulverizer. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui akar penyebab masalah dari gangguan coal plugging atau peyumbatan batubara di peralatan coal feeder di PT. ABZ dengan menggunakan Metode FTA (Fault Tree Analysis) dan memberikan usulan perbaikan dengan Metode 5W + 1 H (what, why, who, when, where dan how). Berdasarkan analisa menggunakan FTA, didapatkan bahwa penyebab coal plugging atau penyumbatan yang terjadi pada mesin coal feeder adalah dikarenakan adanya kontaminasi pada batubara yang digunakan, nilai kalori batubara yang rendah, mesin beroperasi secara terus menerus, mesin sudah tua, kurangnya kontrol dari pihak pekerja dan batubara basah saat akan digunakan. Usulan perbaikan telah dibuat dan salah satunya adalah dengan cara memisahkan batubara basah dengan batubara yang kering secara otomatis menggunakan alat coal online analyzer. Kata Kunci: Penyumbatan Batubara, Coal Feeder, Fault Tree Analysis

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Field Trials of Plugging Oil and Gas Wells with Hydrated Bentonite

Cited by 16 publications

References 6 publications

Characterisation of Geomechanical Properties of Bentonite Clay Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations of Coal Seam Gas Wells

Characterisation of Geomechanical Properties of Bentonite Clay Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations of Coal Seam Gas Wells

Hydraulic Testing of Compacted Bentonite Used for Plug and Abandonment Operations

Analisis Coal Plugging Atau Penyumbatan Batu Bara Pada Mesin Coal Feeder Unit 1-4 Dengan Metode FTA (Fault Tree Analysis) Di PT. ABZ

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