For a drilling operation to be successful, the drilling fluid performance must be optimized. This research study the use of degradable agricultural waste namely cowpea skin powder (CSP), sugarcane rind powder (SRP) and yam bark powder (YP) as additives for fluid loss control. The elemental composition of these food wastes was determined using SEM. Proximate analysis was performed to investigate the content of moisture, ash, nitrogen, protein, volatile matter, fixed carbon, bulk density, specific gravity and pH. The local additives were used at 1% (5grams), 3% (10grams), 4% (15grams) and 5% (20grams) each. For CSP fluid loss increased at 5g and 10g (1% and 3%), by 14% and 9% respectively, at 15g and 10.6g, fluid loss decreased by 33% and 36% respectively. Using SRP of 5g increased fluid loss by 12% but there was decrease in fluid loss with 10g, 15g and 2g in these percentages; 14%, 33% and 37% respectively. YP resulted in fluid loss at 5g giving 1.5% loss, 12% loss with 10grams, 16% fluid loss with 15 grams and 33% filtrate loss with 20grams. Overall, SRP showed best fluid loss performance with 20grams (5%), resulting in 37% fluid loss decrease followed by Yam bark powder at 20grams with fluid loss performance of 33%. The least performance was by CSP at 5grams (3%) that increased the filtrate loss by 14%.
Key words: Fluid loss control, Fiber-rich agricultural waste, Nigerian white yam bark, sugar cane rind, black eye bean, cowpea skin.
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