Perlite incorporation for sedimentation reduction and improved properties of high-density geopolymer cement for oil well cementing

Portland cement (PC) is known for its environmental and technical concerns and massive energy consumption during manufacturing. Geopolymer cement is a promising technology to totally replace the use of PC in the oil and gas industry. Although geopolymers are widely used in the construction industry, it is yet to see a full-scale application in the petroleum industry. High-density geopolymer cement development is essential to substitute heavy-weight Portland cement slurries for high pressure well cementing applications. Sedimentation issue is associated with high-density cement slurries which use high specific gravity solids such as weighting materials. This problem causes heterogeneity and density variation along the cemented sections. The main target of this work is to evaluate the use of perlite powder to address the sedimentation issue in the heavy weight geopolymer systems. Hematite-based Class F fly ash (FFA) geopolymer cement slurries with perlite concentrations of 0, 1.5, and 3% by weight of binder (BWOB) were prepared. The sedimentation problem was investigated using three techniques: API method, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and computed tomography (CT) scan. The perlite effects on different geopolymer properties such as unconfined compressive strength (UCS), porosity, elastic and rheological properties were assessed. The results proved that perlite incorporation in high-density hematite-based FFA geopolymer significantly reduced sedimentation issue by increasing yield point and gel strength. NMR and CT scan showed that perlite decreases porosity and density variation across the geopolymer samples. The UCS increased with increasing perlite percentage from 0 to 3%. The measured Young’s moduli (YM) and Poisson’s ratios (PR) showed that the developed perlite based geopolymer systems are considered more flexible than Class G cement systems. It was found that the optimum perlite concentration is 3% BWOB for tackling sedimentation and developing a slurry with acceptable mixability and rheological properties.