EVALUATION OF RICE HUSK AS POTENTIAL SOURCE OF CELLULOSEBASED

FLUID LOSS ADDITIVE FOR WATER-BASED DRILLING FLUID

Drilling a successful hole is an important aspect of the hydrocarbon exploration

process, and it is dependent on the drilling fluid's effectiveness (McCosh and Getliff,

2004 in Udoh et al., 2012). According to Udoh and Okon (2012), the drilling process

entails penetrating the earth's crust to a depth of several thousand feet, where

hydrocarbons are accumulated in reservoirs, and then using rotary drilling to create a

passage for the discovered hydrocarbon reserves to be produced at the surface. To

achieve this cardinal objective of a drilling operation, the formulated drilling fluid used

must exert its basic functions. In drilling engineering literature, drilling fluid is also

referred to as “drilling mud”, and generally viewed as the “blood” of all drilling operations

in the petroleum industry (Udoh et al., 2012). 

Water-based mud has a wide range of applications due to its ease of formulation

and environmental friendliness (Dankwa et al., 2018), while only around 5-10% employ

oil-based muds (Sifferman et al., 2003). The extensive use of water-based mud has

resulted in the creation of three unique types: inhibitive, non-inhibitive, and polymer

water-based mud (Reza, 2015). 

Drilling fluid is linked to most drilling difficulties, either directly or indirectly. While

no single drilling fluid can solve all drilling problems, it is a tool that is utilized to solve

the majority of them. A minimum number of additives should be present in commonly

used drilling fluids, as this aids in the preservation and verification of the drilling fluid's

qualities. It's advantageous to have a mud system that can be easily adjusted to meet

changing development demands as drilling issues arise (Annis and Smith, 1974). Mud

viscosity and fluid loss control are critical elements to study during the drilling operation.
If these aspects are not properly addressed, drilling issues such as incorrect hole

cleaning and formation damage may arise, resulting in a decrease in well productivity

and, as a result, an increase in cost. 

Rice husk is a hard covering that comprises kariopsis, which comes in two leaf

shapes: petal husks and crown husks, and is separated from rice grains during the

milling process, becoming waste material or grinding waste. About 25% of the husk,

10% of the bran, and 65% of the rice will be produced by rice mills (Haryadi, 2006). In

the study of Simone M.L.Rosa, et al. the total yield of extracted cellulose from rice husk

was 28 wt%. While according to Anwar Ma’ruf et al., the content of rice husk is

composed of cellulose (35%), hemicellulose (25%), lignin (20%), crude protein (3%) and

ash (17%). 

This study will be focusing in evaluating the potential of Rice husk as potential

source of cellulose based fluid loss additives for water based drilling fluid. It will be

differed in the study conducted by Okon, A. et al., 2014 in which they directly added the

grounded rice husk in the mud sample. In this study the Rice husk cellulose will be

extracted and evaluated for its potentiality as Fluid loss agent for Water based drilling

fluid, and also undergo a process in which is will be fitted to be a fluid loss agent.