Abstract
Drilling mud are complex heterogeneous fluids consisting of several additives. Cellulose from waste paper are viscosity builder in polymers, its use as viscosifier additive will reduce overall well cost, improve waste anagement while reducing environmental pollution. This study experimentally examined the effectiveness of waste paper cellulose as a viscosifier. Rheological properties such as density, pH and rheology (plastic viscosity, yield point) tests were performed and compared to a control mud. The mud samples were beneficiated to meet API specification for drilling fluids. At temperatures 28, 45 and 60 ˚C, the sample and control muds had the same density of 8.7 lb/gal; the pH values were 7.5 and 7.7, respectively. They have the same average plastic viscosity of 4.3 (±0.3) cp; while the average yield point values were 17.0(±0.3) and 12.0(±0.4) lb/100sqft, respectively. After the mud samples were beneficiated, results showed that, the sample mud with density of 8.8 lb/gal, pH of 9.0±0.4, average plastic viscosity of 12 cp and yield point of 37 lb/100sqft compared with control mud density of 8.7 lb/gal, pH of 9.3±0.3, average plastic viscosity of 11 cp and yield point of 40 lb/100sqft. Results showed that cellulose extracted from waste paper can replace standard viscosifiers.