Revolutionizing High-Pressure Well Cementing: Enhancing Geopolymer Cement with Laponite for Sustainable and Sedimentation-Free Applications

Sustainable geopolymer cement emerges as a prospective substitute to traditional Portland cement systems in the petroleum industry. Geopolymers offer different advantages over Portland cement, including reduced carbon emissions due to lower energy requirements during production, improved durability and chemical resistance, and the ability to use industrial byproducts as raw materials. This technology promotes sustainable waste management practices while maintaining high performance in various applications. This research aims to explore and maximize the geopolymer technology potential by addressing the issue of sedimentation in high-pressure well cementing applications. By incorporating Laponite particles into hematite-based Class F fly ash (FFA) geopolymer cement formulations, a solution is presented to mitigate sedimentation problems and ensure homogeneity and density uniformity along cement columns. Through the application of American Petroleum Institute (API) and non-API techniques, this study uncovers the remarkable benefits of Laponite in mitigating sedimentation problems and enhancing key characteristics such as strength and rheological properties. The findings reveal that Laponite-based geopolymer systems exhibit improved yield point (YP) and gel strength (GS), as well as reduced porosity and density variation. Adding 3% by weight of FFA of Laponite to the cement formulation reduced the density difference between cement sections from 39.38% when no Laponite was present in the system to only 0.58%. Additionally, the measured elastic properties indicate enhanced flexibility compared with Portland cement systems. By determining the optimal Laponite concentration, this study achieves a step forward in promoting sedimentation-free and environmentally friendly non-Portland cementing methods in the petroleum industry.