Lost Circulation Material Characteristics of Apple Skin Powder in Drilling Mud

Lost circulation is one of the most troublesome problems encountered in drilling due to uncontrolled flow of drilling mud into the formation that likely to happen due to ineffective filter cake. The smaller particles of drilling mud are able to break through into the larger void spaces in the formation which lead to lost circulation. Hence, fibrous materials in apple skin being identified to be used as lost circulation material (LCM) in drilling mud to prevent loss of circulation. Mud rheology tests and API filter press test are performed on the apple skin in drilling mud to find out the potential of fiber in apple skin to be used as LCM. From the mud rheology test, it was found that the specific gravity does not affected by the increasing concentration of apple skin and only a slight reduction in pH value to the acidic condition of the apple skin. As for API filter press test, the additions of apple skin in mud reduced the mud filtrate and increase the mud cake formation thickness. Apple skin fibers have a potential to be used as LCM in drilling mud due to the ability in reducing the mud filtrate and increasing the mud cake thickness that will prevents mud lost circulation problem to happen.