The Rheology and Performance of Geothermal Spring Water-Based Drilling Fluids

Emine Avci,Bayram Ali Mert

doi:10.1155/2019/3786293

Abstract

In this study, the rheological properties and performances of mud prepared with geothermal spring water to be used by geothermal drilling operators were examined at ambient and elevated temperatures. In this context, mud samples were prepared in the compositions detailed in the API specification by using five different geothermal spring water types and a distilled water type. Afterwards, density, apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity, yield point, gel strength, fluid loss, pH, and filter cake thickness of these samples were measured. The drilling muds were analyzed by means of rheological tests in accordance with the standards of the American Petroleum Institute (API). The experimental results have revealed that the mud prepared with geothermal water have lower viscosity and yield point compared to those prepared with freshwater at elevated temperatures. The stability of the muds decreases, especially at temperatures higher than 250°F, and they start to become flocculated. It was concluded that geothermal water-based muds have higher API fluid loss and cake thickness than the freshwater-based one. Therefore, it could be interpreted that the muds prepared with geothermal spring water will exhibit lower flow performance and lower ability of hole cleaning and rate of penetration compared to the freshwater muds. Hence, it is recommended that this kind of water should not be used to prepare drilling mud.

Highlights

Drilling fluids are an important circulation component for the drilling process [1]
As a result of experiments conducted on five different mud samples in order to compare the drilling performance of the drilling muds prepared with geothermal spring water and freshwater, the following conclusions were found
(i) Muds prepared with geothermal water have lower viscosities and yield points than those prepared with freshwater at elevated temperatures

Summary

Introduction

Drilling fluids are an important circulation component for the drilling process [1]. The drilling fluids are basically divided into three categories according to their continuous phase: water-based muds, oil-based muds, and gas-based muds [2]. Vipulanandan and Mohammed [11] used nanoclays, Jain et al [12] used nanocomposites, Kang et al [13] used nanoparticles, Cai et al [14] used nanosilicates, Li et al [15] used cellulose nanocrystals, Navarrete et al [16] used guar gum, Yan et al [17] used synthetic polymers, Mahto and Sharma [18] used tamarind gum, Ahmad et al [19] used acrylamide-based copolymer, and Meng et al [20] used carbon ash as an additive to examine the effects on drilling mud As a result, they observed that these additives improved the rheological properties to be present in an effective drilling mud. Kelessidis et al [22] and Abu-Jdayil [23] analyzed the rheological properties of drilling muds prepared with salty water They have stated that viscosity and yield point decreased whereas the filtrate volume increased as the concentration of salt increased. The rheological and filtration characteristics of drilling muds prepared with geothermal spring water were examined, and their effects on drilling performance were revealed

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions