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Settling of Drilling Cuttings in Polymeric Solutions: A Parametric Investigation

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submitted on 2024-07-02, 06:44 and posted on 2024-07-02, 06:44 authored by Arafat A. A. Mohammed, Mohammed Alhajabdalla, Husameldin Mahmoud, Mustafa S. Nasser, Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein, Ramadan Ahmed

Drilling fluids, commonly referred to as drilling mud, are pumped into the wellbore to expedite the drilling process by moving drilling cuttings to the surface, suspending cuttings, controlling pressure, stabilizing exposed rock, and providing buoyancy, cooling, and lubrication. Understanding the settling of drilling cuttings in base fluids is crucial for successfully mixing drilling fluid additives. In this study, the response surface method Box–Benhken design (BBD) is used to analyze the terminal velocity of the drilling cuttings in a polymeric base fluid of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The impact of polymer concentration, fiber concentration, and cutting size on the terminal velocity of the cuttings is investigated. The BBD of the three factors (low, medium, and high) is used for two fiber aspect ratios (3 and 12 mm length). The size of the cuttings varied between 1 and 6 mm, while the concentration of CMC was between 0.49 and 1 wt %. The concentration of the fiber was in the range of 0.02–0.1 wt %. Minitab was utilized to determine the optimum conditions for reducing the terminal velocity of the suspended cuttings and then evaluate the effects and interactions of the components. The results show good agreement between model predictions and the experimental results (R2 = 0.97). According to the sensitivity analysis, cutting size and polymer concentration are the most crucial factors affecting the terminal cutting velocity. Large cutting sizes have the most significant impact on polymer and fiber concentrations. The optimization results revealed that a CMC fluid with a viscosity of 630.4 cP is sufficient to maintain a minimum cutting terminal velocity of 0.234 cm/s with a cutting size of 1 mm and a 0.02 wt % of the 3 mm length fiber.

Other Information

Published in: ACS Omega
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c01505

Funding

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP12S-0130-190023), Determining the OGIP for the Qatari Shale Reservoirs: Pore to Core Scale Investigation.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Publication Year

  • 2023

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • Qatar University
  • College of Engineering - QU
  • Gas Processing Center - CENG

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