The use of oil-based mud cuttings as an alternative raw material to produce high sulfate-resistant oil well cement

Abstract Oil-based mud (OBM) is used during the oil well drilling processes to cool drilling pits and remove the cuttings. As a result of these processes, the oil-based mud (OBM) cuttings are produced. The composition of the OBM cuttings depends on the geological conditions of the boreholes and the OBM used during the drilling operation. In this study, the OBM cuttings were used as an alternative material to produce a special cement known as oil-well cement (OWC). Raw meal mixtures were prepared with various percentages of OBM cuttings (5, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20%). Then they were sintered up to a temperature of 1450 °C, and the resulting cement clinker was ground to produce highly sulfate resistant OWC. The burnability of the raw meal was studied to explore the effect of OBM cuttings on raw meal behavior during the clinkerization process. The results of the study indicated a decrease in the decarbonation temperature and an increase in the rate of clinkerization as the OBM cuttings increased. The produced cement was tested per American Petroleum Institute's testing procedure for OWC. Also, the cement hydration for 2, 7 and 28 days was carried out to study the behavior of the produced OWC.