Green Fluid Technology: How Food Wastes Can Revolutionize the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Some conventional drilling fluid additives utilized to adjust drilling fluid properties can lead to many issues related to personnel safety and the environment. Thus, there is a need for alternative materials that have less impact on personnel safety and the environment. Many researchers have begun to investigate new alternatives, one example is food wastes. Due to their eco-friendly properties and their vast availability, food wastes are a good candidate that can be exploited as drilling fluid additives. In this work, five different concentrations of eggshells powder (ESP) were added to a reference fluid and the mud weight was measured using mud balance to understand the effects of ESP on mud weight. The results were compared with five concentrations of two commonly used drilling fluid additives - calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and barite. The findings showed that the drilling fluid blends with ESP have significantly outperformed the drilling fluid blends with barite and CaCO3 and for all concentrations in terms of mud weight improvement. The second best blends in terms of mud weight enhancement were the blends with barite and followed by the blends CaCO3. In conclusion, food waste material - ESP outperforming two of the most common drilling fluid additives shows a potential for ESP and other food wastes to be utilized as drilling mud additives in the petroleum industry. This will reduce the harmful chemicals disposed to the environment, reduce exposure risks of drilling crews to harmful chemicals, minimize drilling fluid cost, and revolutionize the industry while contributing to the economy overall.