The non-biodegradable additives used in controlling drilling fluid properties cause harm to the environment and personal safety. Thus, there is a need for alternative drilling fluid additives to reduce the amount of non-biodegradable waste disposed to the environment. This work investigates the potential of using mandarin peels powder (MPP), a food waste product, as a new environmentally friendly drilling fluid additive. A complete set of tests were conducted to recognize the impact of MPP on the drilling fluid properties. The results of MPP were compared to low viscosity polyanionic cellulose (PAC-LV), commonly used chemical additive for the drilling fluid. The results showed that MPP reduced the alkalinity by 20-32% and modified the rheological properties (plastic viscosity, yield point, and gel strength) of the drilling fluid. The fluid loss decreased by 44-68% at concentrations of MPP as less as 1-4%, and filter cake was enhanced as well when comparing to the reference mud. In addition, MPP had a negligible to minor impact on mud weight, and this effect was resulted due to foaming issues. Other properties such as salinity, calcium content, and resistivity were negligibly affected by MPP. This makes MPP an effective material to be used as pH reducer, a viscosity modifier, and an excellent fluid loss agent. This work also provides a practical guide for minimizing the cost of the drilling fluid through economic, environmental, and safety considerations, by comparing MPP with PAC-LV.
The oil and gas industry is moving towards more environmentally friendly practices. The environmental regulations regarding drilling waste management and disposal are motivating the industry to be more efficient with drilling operations. Environmentally friendly drilling fluid additives used in drilling operations reduces not only the negative implications on the environment but also reduces costs. This paper provides an experimental dataset of utilizing biodegradable waste materials as environmentally friendly drilling fluid additives. The data were collected through experimental evaluations of several waste materials including Potato Peels Powder (PPP), Mandarin Peels Powder (MPP), Fibrous Food Waste Material (FFWM), Palm Tree Leaves Powder (PTLP), Grass Powder (GP), and Green Olive Pits' Powder (GOPP). The data presented herein are the raw results of the experiments, which were conducted to examine the ability of the biodegradable waste materials to improve the water-based drilling fluids. The data include the effects of adding these waste materials on different drilling fluid properties such as mud weight, filtration, pH, and the rheology. The mud weight was measured using mud balance, the filtration data were collected using API filter press for both low/high pressure and temperature, the pH was measured using pH meter, and the rheology was characterized using viscometer. The dataset is potentially useful to assist researchers working on developing environmentally friendly drilling fluid additives.
Drilling fluid additives play an important role in drilling engineering. Drilling fluids assist in transporting the cuttings to the surface, control formation pressure, and cool the bit. The most common fluid additives that are used in drilling fluids are the chemical additives such as barite, bentonite, caustic soda and many more. Each chemical additive has its own set of applications. Chemical additives are used for rheological properties, filtration controls, and many more. These traditional chemical additives give promising results, but they have some side effects that are commonly ignored. These side effects include cost, health, safety, and environmental concerns.
This paper presents a new alternative for drilling fluid additives which are the food waste products that are discarded by people. The main objective is to be able to use food waste products as drilling fluid additives to improve the mud rheological properties and avoid any environmental issues that are commonly caused by conventional chemical additives. The food waste products are available everywhere and are easily accessible making them a good candidate for further investigation. The cost of food waste products is less compared to the cost of chemical additives and food waste products are friendlier to the environment. The average total cost of drilling operations is expensive, and part of that expense includes the cost of drilling fluids, which is also generally high. By using food waste products, the total cost for drilling operations reduces, providing a better economic solution. Food waste products account for about 8.2% of greenhouse gas emissions and they can be utilized for better uses such as drilling fluid additives. It is also generally safer to handle food waste in comparison with chemical additives as some chemical additives have hazards that require proper equipment in order to be handled.
Food waste products have the potential to compete with traditional chemical additives and they might be a good alternative. Several investigations have been carried out by people using food waste products. From the previous work and experiments carried out by people, it has shown that food waste products generally improve the mud rheological properties and fluid loss control. From the previous work, there are several shortcomings that can be avoided suggesting more evaluations. Further investigation and experiments should be carried out to gain more information and results of food waste products as a drilling fluid additive in order to be used for future drilling projects.
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