Rupture resistance of filter cake under static filtration using a novel experimental technique

• Published in: Chemical engineering science Vol. 270; p. 118508
• Main Authors: Farooq, Hassan Aris, Kandasami, Ramesh Kannan, Sorrentino, Gianmario, Biscontin, Giovanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.04.2023
• Subjects: Barite/calcium carbonate; Fracture width; Water-based mud; Wellbore strengthening; Xanthan gum; Xanthan gum; Fracture width; Wellbore strengthening; Water-based mud; Barite/calcium carbonate
• ISSN: 0009-2509; 1873-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2023.118508

•Development of a rupture apparatus to quantify the resistance offered by the filter cake.•A relationship is obtained between the effective pressure and fracture width.•Denser and angular barite particles increase the rupture resistance of cake by about 45%.•Lower concentration of xanthan gum within the filter cake leads to a poorly cohesive system.•Porosity of the filter cake reduces by 10 to 20 % with pressure and filtration time. A novel apparatus is used to quantify the filtration characteristics of water-based drilling fluids and rupture behaviour of external filter cake. Under static filtration, the filtration pressure (400 to 800 kPa), time (15 to 60 min), the particle size distribution of the weighing agent (D50: 11 to 136 µm) relative to the pore size distribution of the substrate (S50: 14 and 65 µm) and the type of weighing agent (CaCO3 or BaSO4) play an important role in governing the porosity, thickness, and the rupture resistance of filter cake. With an increase in D50 of mud, the normalised rupture resistance reduces by about 20% irrespective of the increase in the external filter cake thickness. Further, the viscosity of the filtrate increases with D50 indicating the retention of less xanthan gum in the filter cake. The denser barite particles form a thinner and tighter cake, which exhibits higher resistance to rupture.