Preparation of low hydration heat cement slurry with micro-encapsulated thermal control material

Abstract

During the cementing process of natural gas hydrate (NGH) layer, the hydration heat of cement slurry can easily cause decomposition of NGH which leads to cementing risk. A thermal control material of phase change micro-capsule (PCM-1) with paraffin as the core material and urea-formaldehyde resin as the wall material was successfully synthesized, and then a low hydration heat cement slurry was prepared by using PCM-1. The basic performances of PCM-1 were characterized by using DSC, FTIR, SEM and TG, and the results show that the performances meet designed requirements. Then, the PCM-1 was introduced into cement slurry system, and the hydration heat (Q) and hydration temperature rise (Tr) were measured by using the self-developed semi-adiabatic test equipment. As a result, it was confirmed that the Q and the Tr decrease with the increase of PCM-1 content. The Tr of cement slurry CP15% was 25.4 °C, lower than that of cement slurry CB. Meanwhile, compared with cement slurry CB, at 24 and 48 h hydration heat of cement slurry CP15% were decreased by 7.68 × 104 and 7.28 × 104 J, respectively. Therefore, the decomposition of NGH was avoided attribute to the smaller Q of cement slurry, and the cementing operation risk in deep water was reduced.