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Title: Evaluation of commercially available geothermal drilling fluids

Abstract

A review of geothermal drilling in the United States has revealed that serious problems are being encountered with corrosion and degradation of drilling fluids in high temperature wells. The best high temperature drilling fluids that could be formulated from commercially available materials were obtained from the five largest mud companies. These included samples of 9 and 18 lb/gal water muds and 18 lb/gal oil muds. Over 4,000 tests were conducted on these muds to evaluate their performance at high temperature. This included testing at temperatures to 550/sup 0/F and pressures to 15,000 psi. These tests revealed that most of the water muds had high viscosity, high filtration rates and poor corrosivity characteristics at temperatures above 350/sup 0/F. Although the oil muds performed better than water muds at high temperatures, some problems were encountered with viscosity at temperatures above 450/sup 0/F and with filtration at temperatures above 500/sup 0/F. Generally the corrosivity characteristics of the oil muds were much better than those of the water muds. Overall, oil muds have better temperature stability than water muds but their use is often limited because of problems with surface pollution, contamination of water zones and reservoir damage. Biodegradable oil mud systems would overcomemore » some of these limitations.« less

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Maurer Engineering, Inc., Houston, TX (USA)
OSTI Identifier:
7105698
Report Number(s):
SAND-77-7001
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-C-04-0789
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; DRILLING FLUIDS; PERFORMANCE; GEOTHERMAL WELLS; CORROSIVE EFFECTS; FILTRATION; HIGH TEMPERATURE; REVIEWS; VISCOSITY; WELL DRILLING; DOCUMENT TYPES; DRILLING; SEPARATION PROCESSES; WELLS; Geothermal Legacy; 150901* - Geothermal Engineering- Drilling Technology & Well Hardware

Citation Formats

Remont, L.J., Rehm, W.A., McDonald, W.J., and Maurer, W.C. Evaluation of commercially available geothermal drilling fluids. United States: N. p., 1976. Web. doi:10.2172/7105698.
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Remont, L.J., Rehm, W.A., McDonald, W.J., & Maurer, W.C. Evaluation of commercially available geothermal drilling fluids. United States. doi:10.2172/7105698.
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Remont, L.J., Rehm, W.A., McDonald, W.J., and Maurer, W.C. Mon . "Evaluation of commercially available geothermal drilling fluids". United States. doi:10.2172/7105698. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7105698.
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@article{osti_7105698,
title = {Evaluation of commercially available geothermal drilling fluids},
author = {Remont, L.J. and Rehm, W.A. and McDonald, W.J. and Maurer, W.C.},
abstractNote = {A review of geothermal drilling in the United States has revealed that serious problems are being encountered with corrosion and degradation of drilling fluids in high temperature wells. The best high temperature drilling fluids that could be formulated from commercially available materials were obtained from the five largest mud companies. These included samples of 9 and 18 lb/gal water muds and 18 lb/gal oil muds. Over 4,000 tests were conducted on these muds to evaluate their performance at high temperature. This included testing at temperatures to 550/sup 0/F and pressures to 15,000 psi. These tests revealed that most of the water muds had high viscosity, high filtration rates and poor corrosivity characteristics at temperatures above 350/sup 0/F. Although the oil muds performed better than water muds at high temperatures, some problems were encountered with viscosity at temperatures above 450/sup 0/F and with filtration at temperatures above 500/sup 0/F. Generally the corrosivity characteristics of the oil muds were much better than those of the water muds. Overall, oil muds have better temperature stability than water muds but their use is often limited because of problems with surface pollution, contamination of water zones and reservoir damage. Biodegradable oil mud systems would overcome some of these limitations.},
doi = {10.2172/7105698},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1976},
month = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1976}
}
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Technical Report:
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DOI:  10.2172/7105698
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