**2.3. Methodology of the study**

52 New Technologies in the Oil and Gas Industry

production.

**2.2. Motivation** 

government agencies in almost every part of the world.

mind the HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) policy in mind6.

increasing pressure on oil and gas industry stakeholders to find environmentally acceptable alternatives to OBMs. This has been reflected in the introduction of new legislation by

The researches and surveys conducted came up with possibilities of having environmentally friendly oil based mud. Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have been tasked with the challenge of finding a solution to this problem by formulating optimum drilling fluids and also reduce the handling costs and negative environmental effects of the conventional diesel oil based drilling fluid. An optimum drilling fluid is one which removes the rock cuttings from the bottom of the borehole and carries them to the surface, hold cuttings and weight materials in suspension when circulation is stopped (e.g during shut in), and also maintain pressure. An optimum drilling fluid also does this at minimum handling costs, bearing in

In response to the harmful effects of diesel oil on the environment and on the ozone layer (as a result of the emission of greenhouse gases), researches and surveys have gone on in the past two to three decades, and have come up with mud formulations based on the use of plant oils as diesel substitutes. Over the years, plant oils have become increasingly popular in the raw materials market for diesel substitutes. The most popular being: Rapeseed oil, Jatropha oil, Mahua oil, Cottonseed oil, Sesame oil, Soya bean oil, palm oil etc. This brings about the importance of agro allied intervention in the energy industry. Hence, the contribution of non-edible oils such as jatropha oil, canola oil, algae oil, moringa seed oil and Soapnut will be significant as a plant oil source for diesel substitute

This chapter describes the formulation of environmental friendly oil based mud (using plant oil such as jatropha oil, algae oil and moringa seed oil) that can carry out the same functions as diesel oil based drilling fluid and equally meet up with the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) standards. Mud tests have been carried out at standard conditions on each plant oil sample so as to ascertain the rheological properties of the drilling fluid

Drilling mud is in varying degrees of toxicity. It is difficult and expensive to dispose it in an environmentally friendly manner. Protection of the environment from pollutants has become a serious task. In most countries like Nigeria, the drilling fluids industries have had numerous restrictions placed on some materials they use and the methods of their disposal. Now, at the beginning of the 1990's, the restrictions are becoming more stringent and restraints are becoming worldwide issues. Products that have been particularly affected by restrictions are oil and oil-based mud. These fluids have been the mud of choice for many environments because of their better qualities. Initially, the toxicity of oil-based fluids was reduced by the replacement of diesel oil with low-aromatic mineral oils. In most countries today, oil-based mud may be used but not discharged in offshore or inland waters. Potential liability, latent cost, and negative publicity associated with an oil-mud spill are economic

formulations. The conventional diesel oil based mud would serve as control.

Four different mud samples were mixed, and the base fluid was varied. The base fluids were algae, moringa, diesel and jathropha oils used in formulating the muds in an oil water ratio of 70:30, where diesel based mud served as the control.

The following equipment and materials were used to carry out the experiment:


**Table 1.** Materials and Apparatus required

### **2.4. Experimental procedure**

The plant seeds (jatropha, moringa and algae) were collected from the western part of Nigeria, peeled and dried in an oven at about 55OC for seventy minutes. The dried seeds were then de-hulled, to remove the kernels. The brownish inner parts of the kernels were ground in a blender (to increase the surface area for the reaction).

#### **2.5. Extraction**

The method employed in this study is solvent extraction. Solvent extraction is a process which involves extracting oil from oil-bearing materials by treating it with a low boiling point solvent as opposed to extracting the oils by mechanical pressing methods (such as expellers, hydraulic presses, etc.). The solvent extraction method recovers almost all the oils and leaves behind only 0.5% to 0.7% residual oil in the raw material. Here the equipment used was the Soxhlet extractor. A Soxhlet extractor is a piece of laboratory

apparatus invented in 1879 by Franz von Soxhlet. It was originally designed for the extraction of a lipid from a solid material.

**Figure 1.** Soxhlet extractor assembly.

The extraction procedure is given below:


**Figure 2.** Set-up for distillation.
