Usage of Vermiculite as Additive Material in Water-Based Drilling Muds

Year 2018, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 179 - 186, 17.05.2018

Onur Eser Kök İlknur Tanrıverdi Yasin Erdoğan

https://doi.org/10.28978/nesciences.424673

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Drilling mud is used in drilling operations to ensure well stability and to transport the cut-offs to
the surface and is generally classified as; Spud, Lignosulfonate and Polymer types. Spud Mud is
the simple mud and mostly used at the beginning of drilling operations. It is mainly composed of
bentonite and water. With increasing depth, It is hard to keep well stability and to carry cuttings
from the bottom of hole to the surface with the basic drilling fluid. Thus, some materials are used
to maintain the rheological and filtration properties of the mud. One of them is vermiculite that is
a general name of the hydrated ferromagnesian aluminium silicate group. It has expanded
properties when heated. Like all clay minerals, the cation exchange capacity is very high and very
similar to the montmorillonites in terms of high cation exchange capacity. In this study, the usage
of vermiculite as an additive material in drilling muds was investigated. Spud muds containing
vermiculite in different amounts were prepared. Then rheological and filtration analysis of the
muds were done according to American Petroleum Institute (API) RP-13B-1 Standard. When
evaluated the results, AV reached 41cP, PV 27cP, YP 28lb/100ft2
, 10 sec. gel strength
17lb/100ft2
, 10 min. gel strength 26 lb/100ft2
and filtration 9cc. The results showed that the
vermiculite can might be used as a viscosifier and fluid loss reducing additive material in the
drilling mud. 

Keywords

Drilling mud, Bentonite, Vermiculite, Viscosity, Rheology

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