Feasibility Study of using Oil Palm Trunk Waste Fiber as Fluid  Loss Control Agent and Lost Circulation Material in Drilling  Mud

Arina Sauki; Muhammad Saifudin Mohd Azmi; Husna Hayati Jarni; Wan Zairani Wan Bakar; Tengku Amran Tengku Mohd; Nik Khairul Irfan Nik Ab. Lah; Putri Nadzrul Faizura Megat Khamaruddin; Wan Asma Ibrahim

Authors

Arina Sauki Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Muhammad Saifudin Mohd Azmi Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Husna Hayati Jarni Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Wan Zairani Wan Bakar Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Tengku Amran Tengku Mohd Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Nik Khairul Irfan Nik Ab. Lah Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Putri Nadzrul Faizura Megat Khamaruddin Department of Oil and Gas, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Malaysia
Wan Asma Ibrahim Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Malaysia

Keywords:

API filtration test, drilling mud, filter cake thickness, fluid lost control, lost circulation material, lost circulation material, oil palm trunk fiber, sand bed test

Abstract

An investigation was conducted on Oil Palm Trunk (OPT) fiber that was used as fluid loss control (FLC) agent and lost circulation material (LCM) in drilling fluid. API filtration test was performed to evaluate the performance of OPT fiber as FLC while sand bed test was performed to evaluate the performance of OPT fiber as LCM. For the API filtration test, the addition of OPT fiber reduced the fluid loss while the filter cake thickness increased as higher amount of OPT fiber was added into the drilling mud. The use of fine size OPT fiber (<75μm) yielded the lowest fluid loss volume. For the sand bed test, mud invasion reduced as the concentration of OPT fiber increased. The findings also revealed that the OPT fiber with the size of 75-150μm performed best in reducing mud invasion with the value of merely 1 cm. Thus, it can be concluded that OPT fiber has a high potential to be used as FLC and LCM in drilling mud.