Fluid Loss Control of Water Base Drilling Fluids by Rice Husk

Expensive chemical additives for controlling properties of water /oil-based drilling fluids are used in drilling of oil/gas wells. In addition to many advantages, these chemical additives have some huge drawbacks as environment hazardous. Due to the global concern about the environment, most industries are interested in using environmental- friendly and cheap materials such as agro-wastes. Iran has ۲۸th global place in production of rice in the year ۲۰۲۰ which produces about ۳ million tons rice husk per year. Using this material instead of common chemical additives, the cost of drilling, environment hazardous and rig’s personnel safety threat will decrease significantly. In this work, rice husk was used as a natural additive of water-based drilling fluid. It was also mixed with usual chemical additives such as polymer XC and their performance are compared. Different amount of rice husk was added to water-based drilling fluid and the results were compared with different concentrations of chemical additive (۰.۱۴-۰.۲۸ wt.%).API filter press test apparatus at ۱۰۰ psi and ۲۵C° was used for flui thickness. The results showed considerable improvement in fluid loss control and formation of thin mudcake. Mixture of agro-waste and chemical additive improved the fluid loss and mud cake thickness in comparison to commonly used chemical additive in drilling fluids and base drilling fluid.

Keywords:

Drilling fluid , Agro-waste , Eco-friendly , Rice husk , Filtration , Mud cake