Innovative Applications of Red Mud: Converting an Environmental Challenge to a Drilling Asset

Abstract

Red mud is generated from alumina production through bauxite digestion with caustic soda. Ma'aden aluminum production estimated the abundance in a million tons as 2.65:1:2 for bauxite, alumina, and red mud, respectively. The real challenge when it comes to red mud pertains to storage capacity; many solutions have been put forward in different industries, and in this study, the utilization of the red mud waste material is presented as a potential weighting material that could be incorporated into the design of drilling fluid systems. This study provides an assessment of the utilization of red mud as a drilling fluid, and it provides directions for the use of red mud in drilling mud systems as a filtration agent and as a finely divided solid used as a weighting material to increase the density of a given drilling fluid system. This study investigates the viability of red mud as an effective additive to drilling fluid and its effect on rheology and filtration. Different techniques are employed in red mud characterization and performance evaluation. The study assesses red mud as an inert solid in a drilling fluid system by investigating the drilling fluid rheology, apparent viscosity (AV), plastic viscosity (PV), and yield point (YP) before and after hot rolling at 150 °F, in addition to filtration properties under low-pressure, lowtemperature and higher-pressure, higher-temperature conditions (at 150 °F and a differential pressure of 250 psi). Also, the study highlights the red mud solid characterization, material preparation, and acid dissolution at 150 °F. This study attempts to view the red mud situation from a practical application angle (primarily in the oil and gas industry). Test results show stable drilling mud fluid properties when utilizing red mud solid additives as weighting agents. The drilling mud exhibits relatively low plastic viscosity, gel strength, excellent sag behavior, and reasonable filtration control, even under HPHT conditions in aqueous-based fluids. The material dissolves in acid. Accordingly, red mud provides a viable option for weighting agents and filtration control.

Analysis of Alkali in Bayer Red Mud: Content and Occurrence State in Different Structures

“…As a major producer of alumina, China produced more than 120 million tons of red mud in 2022, with a cumulative stockpile of 1.7 billion tons. Red mud created with the Bayer process is used as an industrial by-product for other applications, such as building materials [1][2][3][4][5][6] and environmental [7][8][9][10], chemical [2,[11][12][13][14][15], agronomic [16][17][18][19], metallurgical [20][21][22] processes, and so on. Currently, building materials consume reused red mud the most.…”