Topic 1:- “Barite Nanoparticles Reduce the Cement Fluid Loss’’.

Abstract
Cement fluid loss can cause loss of cement quality and its functionality. Barite, which is used in
cement to increase the slurry weight, is one example. In this paper, the effect of barite
nanoparticles (NPs) in different concentrations on cement fluid loss is investigated.

Barite NPs were generated via dry grinding method using a high-energy ball grinder. The barite
NPs were added to the cement slurry in various conditions and were subjected to low pressure
low temperature static fluid loss tester is used to measure the cement fluid loss in the laboratory.
It is observed that-

 If the nanoparticles concentrations increases from 0 to 5 % the avg. fluid loss decreases
by half.
 Results show that 50 % filtration reduction can be achieved by replacing 3 % weight of
normal Barite with Barite NPs.
 Shows the effect the fluid loss has on cement thickening time.

The novelty of this research is in the application of Barite NPs at low concentrations to reduce
the cement fluid loss. Reducing the cement fluid loss can prevent many problems such as low
quality cement due to poor crystallization, high equivalent circulation density (ECD), which results
in formation failure during cementing jobs.

Introduction
Cement is an adhesive material that is used to bind materials together.

In oil and gas wells, the cement isolates casing from formation fluids, pressures, formations and
from casing corrosion. Portland cement of different classes are used in all well cementing jobs.
However the oil well conditions (pressure and temperature) are significantly different from the
ambient conditions.
Nanotechnology is one of the most active research areas, for the oil and gas industry, in
particular in mud and cement. It is a technology at the nanoscale which is between 1 to 100 nm.
National Nanotechnology Initiative define Nanotechnology as the manipulation of materials with
at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nm.
There are two methods to make nanoparticles, the Top-Down and the Bottom-Up method. In the
Top-Down method, by grinding materials into tiny particles, nanoparticles are created. Grinding
reduces the size if particles to nanoscales and new properties are imposed on material. In
Bottom-Up method (sol-gel method, aerosol bases processes, atomic or molecular
condensation) different chemical reactions produce nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have high
specific area and high activity rate due to their size. Combining Portland cement with
nanomaterials, unique properties are imposed to system that can help cement paste improving
properties such as compressive strength, freezing durability, tensile strength and fluid loss rate.

Experiment studies conducted by-

 Bahadori and Horseini (2012) showed the enhancement of microstructure of concrete

and reduce the amount of cement needed by adding Silica NPs.
 Shiyi et al (2014) - adding Nano-Kaolinite to the cement mortar, improves the acid
resistance.
 Lu et al (2015) – found that NPs improve the cement bending strength.
 Amin et al (2013) – studied the effect of Nano-Magnetite on Portland cement and high
slag cement hydration.
In this study the application of Nano-Barite on cement fluid loss is studied. It is used in cement as
weighting agent. Nano-Barite particles can improve the cement properties in two ways-
1. Because of the Barite nanoparticle size, it can plug the formation pores and decrease the
fluid loss of cement slurry.
2. Nano-Barite particles can improve the cement compressive strength, flexural strength
and tensile strength because of their structural properties.
The fluid loss of cement slurry is a crucial parameter in cementing. Having high fluid loss slurry
the quality of cement behind the casing is decreased. In addition, as cement water content is
decreased the cement density is increased and because of that a higher differential pressure is
seen, which increases the chances of formation fractures and loss.

Apparatus required
 Milling Machine (Top-Down method).
 Low Pressure Low Temperature FANN fluid loss tester.
 Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Optical Microscope.
 High Pressure High Temperature Chandler consistometer model 7322.

Methodology
1. Conversion of Barite to nanoparticles.
Avg. size of normal Barite powder is approx. 14 micrometre. To achieve a more even size
nanoparticle distribution the Barite powder is sieved and the amount that passed through 400
mesh (38 micrometre) is used in milling machine. The EMAX milling machine has two jars in
each jar 10g sieved barite powder in conjunction with 45g of 2mm grinding stainless steel ball
are used and the machine is operated for 4 hours at 900 rpm, alternating on and off every 2
min.
2. Evaluating the shape and size of Barite NPs.
Optical microscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM) are used to evaluate the
shape and size of barite nanoparticles.
The TEM uses a beam of electron to measure the size of the specimen.
3. The FANN fluid loss tester is used to study the effect of Barite NPs on cement slurry fluid
loss.

A differential pressure in ambient temperature is applied to the cement slurry sample (say
100psi) and the amount of fluid loss is measured throughout 30 min. The filter paper size
is 2-5um and the diameter of the fluid loss cell and the fluid loss tester cup height is
measured.

4. The HPHT Chandler Consistometer model 7322 is used to measure the cement thickening
time.
Apparatus measures the torque values that are applied to the paddle by the slurry, while
slurry cup rotates around the paddle at the constant velocity 150 rpm. The paddle is
connected to potential meter which in turns torque to voltage.
 Using correlation, the potential meter recorded values are converted to Bearden
Consistency. The time when the cement slurry reaches Bearden Consistency of 80 is defined as the
thickening time.

The HPHT Chandler Consistometer model 7372 can apply pressure up to 22000psi and temperature
400F to the slurry cup. In this study, pressure of 2000psi and temp 160F were applied to the cement
samples during thickening time test.
The Portland cement type I and II is used for cement samples which meet the specifications for
both ASTM C150 type I and II. The cement slurry recipe for base case (0% NPs), 1%, 3%, and
5% Barite nanoparticles BWOT (by weight of total slurry) are taken. The Barite NPs were added
to the cement slurry in three concentrations 1%, 3%, and 5% by weight of total slurry (BWOT)
and their results are compared with base cement sample (0% NPs).
To achieve consistent results, the fluid loss tests ate repeated several time and then the avg.
fluid loss was reported for each barite NPs BWOT.

Cement Slurry recipe

Base case 1% NPs 3% NPs 5% NPs

Portland cement 432.25 432.5 432.5 432.5
type II (gr)
Water (gr) 432.25 432.5 432.5 432.5
HEC (gr) 3 3 3 3
Barite (gr) 161.6 150.5 129 109.5
Barite NPs (gr) 0 11 32.5 52

Two pairs of samples with different hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and Barite NPs concentration
were tested. This confirms that Barite NPs do not have a direct effect on cement thickening time.

Cost estimation
 Oil well cement, packaging size 50kg – Rs 190/bag.
 Barite powder particle size (>75u) – Rs 12/kg.
 HEC – US $5000-5200/ton.
Results and Discussion
The Barite particles are seen as Dark amorphous dots. After applying the grinder these particles
were broken down to smaller particles.
By using TEM, the existence of nanoparticles are verified.
To separate Barite particles they were mixed with 150cc water for 5 min before adding to cement
mixture.
As Barite nanoparticle concentration increases, the fluid loss standard duration values are
reduced ad more consistent fluid loss results are achieved.

Conclusion
The application of Barite NPs n cement industry is promising.
The Barite NPs can reduce the cement fluid loss by 50% at low concentration and through that, it
improves the cement quality along the wellbore.
Barite NPs can be used both as weighting and reduce the need for fluid loss agents.
The Barite NPs do not affect the cement thickening time compared to Nano barite particles.
Replacing Barite with Barite NPs can effectively reduce the cement slurry fluid loss tremendously
retaining original properties.