Experimental Study of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash and Corn Starch as Fluid Loss Additives in Oil-Based Drilling Mud

Abstract

Fluid loss is one of the biggest problems faced by the drilling engineers; the drilling fluids invades in the formation resulting in the fluid loss, which increases the overall cost of the drilling. The objective of this study is to use biodegradable natural ingredients as fluid loss additives in oil-based mud as the industrial based polymers which are normally used as fluid loss agents are highly expensive. In this study, corn starch and sugarcane bagasse ash were used at 1, 3, 5, and 7% wt./wt. separately as fluid loss additive in Oil-based mud. The drilling mud mixed with 1% of SCBA yielded the best result for fluid loss. Similarly, corn starch at 1% wt./wt. exhibited the best fluid loss characteristics. However, their effect on other mud properties was; plastic viscosity, apparent viscosity, yield point, and gel strength increased with increasing the concentration whereas, they have no or little effect on pH and mud weight.