Limiting Deteriorative Impacts of Oil-Based Mud Residuals on Cement Bonding

Successful cementing relies on an effective removal of oil-based muds (OBMs) specially from rock and casing surfaces. However, most OBMs are heavily absorbed onto the mineral surfaces as well as casing, deteriorating the interfacial bonding of cement to these surfaces. We present a novel cement additive made from treated surface-modified graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) to minimize the impact of mud residuals on the bonding strengths of cement. Experimental results show that after spacer flushing for the cases of limestone and sandstone cores, treated GNPs not only limit the impact of mud residuals at the interfaces, but also, raise the bonding strength beyond that corresponding to water saturated cores.