Micronized Ilmenite - A Non-damaging &amp; Non-sagging New Weight Material for Drilling Fluids

Al‐Bagoury, Mohamed

doi:10.2118/169182-ms

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Hematite was firstly proposed as a weighting agent by Haaland et al [26]; then, its utilization in drilling fluids grows significantly showing lower solid content, significant ROP improvement, acid solubility, and low toxicity [19][20][21][22][23]. The relatively high abrasiveness of hematite is reduced by micronizing its particles [27], which helps in improving the filtration and rheology performance as well [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. However, hematite sagging was still encountered in HP/HT wells [24,[38][39][40][41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Titanium-iron oxide mineral (FeTiO 3 ), known as ilmenite, has specific gravity of 4.5-5.1 g/cm 3 , lower abrasiveness than hematite, and acid solubility. Ilmenite is successfully utilized as a weighting material [24,28,42]. Several studies addressed using a combination of weighting materials in various concentrations, and mixture utilization has been extended to mitigate the associated issues and yield better fluid stability which improves the efficiency of drilling operations [7,17,40,41,43,44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ilmenite Inclusion: A Solution towards Solid Sagging for Hematite-Based Invert Emulsion Mud

2022

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The sagging tendency of hematite in drilling mud is a common challenge occurring at high-pressure and high-temperature (HP/HT) applications. This work studies the performance of hematite-based invert emulsion mud for HP/HT conditions and provides a solution to prevent the hematite settlement using a combination of ilmenite with hematite. Practical mud formulation was utilized over a range of ilmenite/hematite ratios (0/100, 20/80, 40/60, and 50/50%) to study sagging behaviour. From the sag tests, the optimum combination proportion was determined. Thereafter, the density, emulsion stability, rheological and viscoelastic properties, and filtration conduct for the formulated mud were evaluated. The experiments were conditioned as per the standards of the American Petroleum Institute. The obtained results of sagging experiments indicated that including 50% of ilmenite mitigated the hematite settling and reduced the sag tendency towards the safe range. A slight drop (4%) in mud weight was noticed upon adding the ilmenite, whereas the emulsion stability was enhanced from 551 to 574 volts with the 50% ilmenite content. The rheology and viscoelasticity measurements showed that 50/50% combination improved the yield point (YP) by 50% with a trivial 1 cP increment on plastic viscosity (PV), hence enhancing the YP/PV ratio by 46%. Also, the gelling strength was enhanced resulting in flat rheology and better gel structure. The filtration behaviour of 50% ilmenite mud was improved compared to blank hematite as it resulted in 21, 15, and 17% reduction on the filtrated volume, filter cake weight, and thickness, respectively. This study provides a solution for hematite sagging issue at HP/HT using combined weighting agents, which contributes to enhancing the mud stability and avoiding several well control issues and related operational and technical challenges that eventually will economize the drilling cost and time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ilmenite Inclusion: A Solution towards Solid Sagging for Hematite-Based Invert Emulsion Mud

2022

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“…It is acid-soluble with lower abrasiveness than hematite, which makes it suitable to be applied in drilling fluids . Many studies addressed the use of micronized ilmenite or its combination with barite in the WBM and OBM to enhance the mud stability with proven successful outcomes. ,− …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevention of Hematite Settling in Water-Based Mud at High Pressure and High Temperature

et al. 2021

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Hematite was recently introduced as a weighting agent in drilling fluids; however, its use has some problems because of the settlement of solid particles (solid sagging). Particularly when it comes to high-pressure high-temperature (HP/HT) wells, sagging causes inconsistency in the drilling fluid and gives rise to serious drilling operational and technical challenges. This work provides a solution to this challenge via a thorough investigation of hematite sagging in water-based mud for HP/HT applications where ilmenite is combined with hematite. The particles of both hematite and ilmenite were first characterized to address their mineralogical and textural features. Field mud formulation was employed using several ilmenite/hematite contents (i.e., 0/100, 25/75, and 50/50% ilmenite/hematite). Then, laboratory experiments were conducted to study the density, pH, and sag performance of the produced drilling fluids. From the sagging tests, the optimal ilmenite/hematite ratio was determined, and rheology, viscoelastic behavior, and filtration properties of the formulated mud were addressed. The tests were conditioned to 300 psi and 250 °F. The results showed a reduction in mud density and pH with increasing ilmenite content, as the density reduced from15 ppg with base hematite until 14.2 ppg for the 50% ilmenite mixture and the pH reduced from 10.5 to 9.3. The static and dynamic sag tests indicated that the addition of 25% of ilmenite solved the hematite-incorporated sagging issue by well placing the sag tendency within the recommended safe range. The 25/75% combination enhanced the yield point (YP) by 37% with only 1 cP increment in plastic viscosity (PV) and an insignificant effect on the gel strength. The YP/PV ratio was improved by 31% indicating better hole cleaning and solid suspension. The filtration behavior of the 25% ilmenite mixture was superior compared to that of the blank hematite because it resulted in 35, 39, and 35% reduction in the filtrate volume, filter-cake weight, and thickness, respectively. This work contributes to improving and economizing the drilling cost and time by the formulation of a stabilized and distinguished-performance drilling mud using combined weighting agents at HP/HT.

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“…Ilmenite has a lower concentration of heavy toxic metals compared to barite [10], and its particles are very coarse compared to barite, which means an increase in the abrasion effect on the drilling system [11]. However, the use of micronized ilmenite as a weighting material for the drilling fluids has been recently suggested, which resulted in an improvement in drilling fluids rheology [12][13][14] and a reduction in the abrasive effect on drilling system equipment [11]. Hematite, which is the most commonly used weighting material for cement, is finer than barite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Weighting Materials on Oil-Well Cement Properties While Drilling Deep Wells

et al. 2019

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In deep hydrocarbon development wells, cement slurry with high density is required to effectively balance the high-pressure formations. The increase in the slurry density could be achieved by adding different heavy materials. In this study, the effect of the weighting materials (barite, hematite, and ilmenite) on the properties of Saudi Class G cement matrix of vertical homogeneity, compressive strength, porosity, and permeability was evaluated. Three cement slurries were weighted with barite, hematite, and ilmenite, and cured at 294 °F and 3000 psi for 24 h. All slurries have the same concentration of the different additives except the weighting material. The amount of weighting material used in every slurry was determined based on the targeted density of 18 lbm/gal. The results of this study revealed that the most vertically homogenous cement matrix was the ilmenite-weighted sample with a vertical variation of 17.6% compared to 20.2 and 24.8% for hematite- and barite-weighted cement, respectively. This is attributed to the small particle size of the ilmenite. The medical computerized tomography (CT) scan confirmed that the ilmenite-weighted sample is the most homogeneous, with a narrow range of density variation vertically along the sample. Hematite-weighted cement showed the highest compressive strength of 55.3 MPa, and the barite- and ilmenite-weighted cement compressive strengths are each 18.4 and 36.7% less than the compressive strength of the hematite-weighted cement, respectively. Barite-weighted cement has the lowest porosity and permeability of 6.1% and 18.9 mD, respectively. The maximum particle size of ilmenite used in this study is less than 42 μm to ensure no abrasion effect on the drilling system, and it minimized the solids segregation while maintaining a compressive strength that is higher than the minimum acceptable strength, which is the recommended weighting material for Saudi Class G cement.

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Micronized Ilmenite - A Non-damaging & Non-sagging New Weight Material for Drilling Fluids

Cited by 18 publications

References 5 publications

Ilmenite Inclusion: A Solution towards Solid Sagging for Hematite-Based Invert Emulsion Mud

Ilmenite Inclusion: A Solution towards Solid Sagging for Hematite-Based Invert Emulsion Mud

Prevention of Hematite Settling in Water-Based Mud at High Pressure and High Temperature

The Effect of Weighting Materials on Oil-Well Cement Properties While Drilling Deep Wells

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