Keywords
Drilling fluid
Natural additive
Filtration properties
How to Cite
Abstract
The search for natural additives to improve the performance of water-based drilling fluids (WBDF) has been fueled by the growing need for environmentally friendly and sustainable drilling processes. The objective of this study is to examine the potential utilization of Aloe Vera (AV) powder as a natural additive in WBDF through an experimental analysis of filtration properties. All experimental studies adhered to the American Petroleum Institute (API) standard procedure in order to accomplish the objectives mentioned above. In this experiment, a mixture of water phase volume of (350 ml) and chemical components like xanthan gum (0.8 gm), sodium hydroxide (0.8 gm), bentonite (13 gm), and barite (18 gm) were used to prepare base mud. Samples 1, 2, and 3 are created using 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75% weight of aloe vera powder (size less than 150 µm) in relation to water volume, while sample 4 was created using 0.5% weight of aloe vera powder (size less than 212 µm) in relation to water volume. The standard cell is used in the low-pressure mud filtration test, which was conducted for 30 minutes at room temperature with an API condition of 100 psi. Based on the laboratory analysis, this study suggests that AV powder has the potential to be an environmentally beneficial additive for usage in specialized drilling environments rather than generalized drilling operations. Specially, the 0.5% concentration of AV powder with particle size less than 150 µm demonstrated improved fluid loss management for water-based drilling fluid. This study offers a comprehensive evaluation of its influence on the fluid's behavior, with a focus on the drilling fluid's filtration performance. The outcome of the experiment indicates that WBDF containing aloe vera is an economical and environmentally beneficial additive for reducing filtration loss and preventing significant fluid loss during drilling operations.
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