The Influence of Red Mud Additive on Drilling Fluid Performance: Comparison Between Calcite in Conventional Drilling Mud and Red Mud Additive

The main objective of this paper is to utilize red mud waste in drilling fluid design. Around the globe, there is a significant demand for energy and the global demands for technology keenness in providing an ecological solution. In recent years, there has been attentiveness toward finding sustainable solutions for waste prevention for upstream companies. This paper proposes a waste management solution as the red mud characteristics and composition show a potential drilling fluid application. Different techniques and evaluation procedures have been followed to characterize and evaluate the red mud additive. The differences in performance between red mud and a conventional calcite mud system were the core of the performance evaluation in this paper. The study was conducted to utilize red mud waste in the drilling fluid design and provided some information and guidance for the possibilities and challenges associated with using red mud additive in drilling mud systems. Red mud consists of coarse and fine particles, and to determine whether red mud can be considered an inert material in the drilling fluid design. The material undergoes a preparation process. Then, the particle size distribution analysis was performed to ensure the quality of the starting material. Finally, the material dissolution in acids was tested in 15 % HCl. Then, the investigation covers the solid characteristics and the elemental composition. Moreover, the study highlights the effect of red mud dry additive in a drilling fluid system. Both rheological characteristics and filtration properties at 150 °F were highlighted in the paper. The filtration performance was tested based on the American Petroleum Institute (API) standard at LPLT and HPHT conditions. The practical applicational angle for this study exhibits similar rheological and filtration performance compared with calcite mud under HPHT conditions. By utilizing the red mud additive in the water-based drilling mud fluids system under HPHT conditions, the product gives relatively lower rheological characteristics, good solid suspension behaviour, and excellent filtration control. Red mud presents a possible example of a material where waste by-products can be seen as a potential product. The possibility does exist for the red mud to be used as an inert additive to optimize various drilling fluid properties.