Investigation Of Sugar Cane Bagasse As Fluid Loss Control Agent For Water Based Mud

Authors

  • Khaleel Mahdi Alaboster, Yousif , Harvin Kaur A/P Gurchran Singh

Abstract

It is known that fluid loss and mudcake thickness are very important properties of drilling fluids.
The main problem that comes with this is stuck pipe, for example in the case of a thick mudcake. Also,
excessive fluid loss could lead to shale swelling or reduction of the wellbore pressure. This could result in a
kick if the pressure of the formation fluids are larger than the wellbore pressure. To reduce fluid loss,
organic additives are known to be effective. This is why in this paper, an experimental investigation on the
effect of size and concentration of SugarCane Bagasse (SCB) on the filtration and rheological properties of a
drilling mud will be performed. The different sizes investigated were 63 microns and 125 microns. Initially,
the concentration of SCB that was used was 0.2g, 0.4g, 0.6g, 0.8g and 1g. However, after identifying that
these results showed minimal differences when compared to the WBM, the concentrations were increased
up to 1, 2, 4 and 6 grams. The results of the experimental procedures showed that the use of a 63 micron
SCB resulted in a better filtration performance and also a better rheological performance in terms of
viscosity and gel strength. The best formulation selected based on the filtration performance and rheology
was using 6 grams of 63 micron sized SCB. Also, it was concluded that for the 125micron sized SCB, the
difference between the effect of 4g and 6g was not very noticeable hence it is thought to be that the optimum
amount of SCB to be used at 125 microns is between 4 and 6 grams.

Published

2020-01-31

Issue

Section

Articles