ABSTRACT

Characteristics of drilling mud can be identified by using various methods. In this

experiment, these methods are divided into two parts which are part A for the emulsion test as
well as part B for solid and liquid content of the drilling mud test. In part A, the emulsion test is
to determine the Electrical Stability (ES) of the drilling mud samples, which are oil based mud
and water based mud. The ES can be determined from the result of voltage and current flow in
the mud. The reading will show the mud emulsion stability and higher reading of ES show that
the it has good mud emulsion. From the experiment, the water based mud give an average value
at 1.3v meanwhile the oil based mud is 142.0v. In part B, the experiment is carried out to
determine the solid and liquid contents of drilling mud samples. In this experiment, water based
mud has been selected as the mud sample. It is conducted by using Retort Kit that working on
the principle of condensation, the heating and vaporization of the drilling fluid sample. The
drilling mud is heated up until all liquid have been vaporized and left behind the solid content.
Based on the experiment, the result obtained from the condensation of the sample is 47 mL of
colorless liquid and 1 mL a brownish condensate. The dry mud weight obtained is 1.4163g.
Hence by the product obtained, the characteristics of the drilling mud can be identified.

INTRODUCTION
Part A: Emulsion Test
Emulsion tester is used in the evaluation of inverted emulsion drilling fluids, cement and
fracturing fluid. This test indicates the stability and types of emulsion whether water-in-oil or oilin-water. Time stability and resistance to electrolyte contamination of these systems can be
predicted from a measurement of relative emulsion stability.

Electrical Stability (ES) test is a test that applied to oil-base and synthetic-base muds that
indicates the stability of the emulsion and oil-wetting capacity of the sample. The electrical
stability is determined by applying a steadily increasing sinusoidal alternating voltage across a
pair of parallel flat plate electrodes submerged in the oil base drilling fluid. Maximum voltage
that the mud will sustain across the gap before conducting current is displayed as the ES voltage.

The composition of the oil base drilling fluid controls the absolute magnitude of (ES).
Several conditions influence the Electrical Stability of a given drilling fluid such as resistivity of
the continuous phase, conductivity of the non-continuous phase, properties of suspended solids,
temperature, droplet size, type of emulsifier used, dielectric properties of the fluids and shear
history of the sample. It is advised to take several readings of ES of the samples to establish a
trend. This series of (ES) measurements will reflect a more accurate condition of the drilling
fluid on which drilling fluid treatments can be based.

Part B: Solid and Liquid Content

Drilling fluid composition consists of liquid (oil and water) and solid. Knowledge of
solids content is fundamental to proper control of mud properties such as rheology, density and
filter cake building properties. The amounts of solids need to be controlled to avoid drilling
problem such as pipe sticking. The Oil & Water Retort provides a simple, direct field method for
directly measuring the percentage by volume of oil and water in samples in drilling mud. The
volume of solids is found by subtraction from 100%.
Knowledge of the liquid and solids content of a drilling mud is essential for good control
of the mud properties. Such information will often explain poor performance of the mud and
indicate whether the mud can best be conditioned by the addition of water or whether treatment
with chemical thinner or the removal of the contaminant is required. Similarly, proper control of
an oil emulsion mud depends upon knowledge of the oil content.
For muds containing only water and solids, the quantity of each can be determined from
the mud density and from the evaporation of a weighed sample of mud. Oil and water content
can also be obtained by measuring the liquid fraction. The latter method is only applicable to oil
emulsion muds.
The retort kit working principle is based on the heating, vaporisation and condensation.
The mud is heated up to 500C until all the liquid is vaporized. The vapour then flow into the
condenser and condensed back to liquid form.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this experiment is to:

To determine the Electrical Stability (ES) of drilling mud samples

To determine the liquid and solid contents of each of the drilling fluid samples.

THEORY
Electrical Stability is a test that applied to drilling mud such as oil based and synthetic
based drilling mud to indicate the stability of the emulsion and oil wetting capacity of the
samples. The electrical stability is determined by applying a steadily increasing sinusoidal
alternating voltage across a pair of parallel flat plates electrodes submerged in the oil base
drilling fluid. The electrical stability voltage will be display when maximum voltage that the
mud will sustain across the gap before conducting current. The absolute magnitude of the
electrical stability is controls by the composition of the oil base drilling fluid. There is several
conditions influence the electrical stability of a given drilling fluid. The condition that will
influence the electrical stability is such as resistivity of the continuous phase, conductivity of the
non-continuous phase, properties of suspended solids, temperature, droplet size, type of
emulsifier used, and dielectric properties of the fluid and shear history of the samples. Several
readings should be taken to avoid the result get influence by the conditions and to establish a
trend. The multiple measurements will reflect more accurate condition of the drilling fluid on
which drilling fluid treatment can be based.
The drilling fluid composition is consisted of liquid such as oil and water and solid. The
solid content in drilling fluid is important to proper control of the mud properties such as
rheology, density and filter cake building properties. The drilling problems such as pipe sticking
can be avoided by controlling the amount of the solids in the drilling mud. By controlling the
amount of the solid in drilling mud can be used to explain the poor performance of the mud and
indicate whether the mud can best be conditioned by the addition of the water or whether
treatment with chemical thinner or the removal of the contaminant is required. The proper
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control of an emulsion mud depends upon knowledge of the oil content. For the mud containing
only water and solids, the quantity of each can be determined from the mud density and from the
evaporation of a weighed sample of mud. Oil and water can be obtained by measuring the liquid
fraction.

APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

Part A
Electrical Stability (ES) Tester, calibration kit, water based mud, oil based mud, 100mL beaker.

Part B
Oil based mud, grease, Retort Kit, measuring cylinder, cleaning kit, wetting agent, steel wool,
square bar retort wrench.

PROCEDURE
General Start-Up
1. Mud was prepared by put it into the mud cup until reach the upper indicator of the cup.
2. Then, the mud was mixed by using the mixer about 3-5 minutes.
3. The mud was transferred into a beaker and ready to use.
Part A: Emulsion Test
1. All apparatus was set up.
2. The mud was put into a 100mL beaker.
3. Then, the ES Tester was switched on and the calibration kit was plugged into the ES
Tester to check the machine calibration.
4. After that, the rod was put into the beaker and it was ensured to immerse into the mud.
5. The TEST button was pressed at the ES Tester and the reading was recorded.
6. Step 2 to 5 was repeated by using another type of mud.
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Part B: Solid and Liquid Content

1. The Retort Kit was set up and the Power supply was switched on.
2. The upper chamber was packed with steel wool.
3. The water based mud was selected and the sample chamber was filled with the mud until
it reached the surface.
4. The sample chamber lid was placed and excess mud spilled was cleaned.
5. Sample chamber was screwed with lid into the upper chamber and it was being tighten
using square bar retort wrench.
6. The chamber was put into the Retort Kit and the condenser was attached to the chambers.
7. 3 drops of wetting agent was added in to the measuring cylinder and the measuring
cylinder was placed under the condenser.
8. The Retort Kit was turned on and the retort kit was allowed to be heated until the pilot
lamp goes off.
9. The liquid appeared in the measuring cylinder was observed.
10. The chamber and the furnace was left to cool off about a day.
11. After that, the steel wool was removed using the corkscrew and the chamber was cleaned
with spatula.
12. The retort threads was cleaned and lubricated with high temperature lubricant.
13. The result sample was weighted and data was recorded.

RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS

Experiment Part A
Type of Mud

Electrical Stability (peak voltage)

1

Water Based Mud

Oil Based Mud

144

137

145

Experiment Part B
Condensate Color

Clear/Colourless

Brown

Condensate Volume (mL)

47

*mud utilized is water based mud.

Average of Electrical Stability:

I.

Water Based Mud:

=2+1+1
= 1.3 peak voltage

II.

Oil Based Mud

= 144 + 137 + 145

= 142 peak voltage

Total Condensate

= 48mL

Weight of Dried Mud = 1.4163g

DISCUSSION

The objective of this experiment for part A is to determine the Electrical Stability (ES) of
drilling mud samples. The drilling mud samples used in this experiment are oil based mud and
water based mud. The samples are tested with the electrical stability tester kit in order to test the
electrical stability. Electrical stability is one of the vital properties because it shows the voltage
of the current to flow in mud. Based on the experiment, the electrical stability of water based
mud is lower than the oil based mud. The electrical stability number represents mud emulsion
stability. This is because the oil based fluid is non-conductive material. Therefore the base fluid
will not transfer any current, only the water phase will conduct electric. If the mud has the good
emulsion, it will have a high number of electrical stability. From the result, it can be proven that
the combination of water and oil in the oil based mud is stable and good as the reading of ES
tester give slightly a large value at 145, 144 and 137v compare to the water based mud.

For the experiment part B, the objective is to determine the liquid and solid contents of
each of the drilling fluid samples. Only water based mud is used in this experiment. The solid
content is a fraction total solid in drilling mud and always increases while drilling ahead because
of cuttings, mud chemical additives and weighting material. It is divided into two types which
are soluble and insoluble solid content in drilling fluid system. The total condensate in this
experiment is 48mL. The volume of clear and brown condensate are 47mL and 1 mL
respectively. The weight of dried mud is 1.4163g. In this test, a known amount of mud is
distilled from a heated chamber by way of condenser to be collected in a measuring cylinder and
only the liquid are distilled because all mud solids and salt are left in retort chamber.

Some error may occur during the experiment that affected the reading. Firstly, during the
electrical stability test, the rod should be fully immersed into the mud in order to get the better
result. Secondly, the apparatus must be absolutely dry before proceeding with the test.

CONCLUSION
The objective of this experiment are to determine the Electrical Stability (ES) of drilling mud
samples and to determine the liquid and solid contents of each of the drilling fluid samples. The
objective of this experiment are achieved. As a conclusion, the oil based mud is the good mud
because it has a higher number of electrical stability and it also has a good emulsion. Emulsion
drilling fluids are used in either form, water-continuos and oil-continuos (invert). Invert emulsion
fluids provide good rheological and fluid loss-properties are particularly useful for high
temperature applications. Solid content is a fraction total solid in drilling mud, and it always
increases while drilling ahead because of drilling solid and mud additives. There are three types
of solid contents such as soluble material, insoluble high gravity solid and insoluble low gravity
solid. Knowledge of the liquid and solids content of a drilling mud is essential for good control
of the mud properties.

RECOMMENDATIONS
According to the experiment, there are several steps that should be taken into consideration to
eliminate the error thus increase the result accuracy, which are:

1. The reading of the ES Tester should be taken several times thus calculate the average reading
to get more accurate data.
2. The rod of ES Tester must be cleaned using distilled water before being used to avoid error
while the reading of sample is taken.
3. Use the spatula accordingly to scrape the dried mud from the mud chamber and lid to ensure
the correct volume is taken.

REFERENCES
1. www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com
2. http://petrowiki.spe.org/Functions_of_drilling_fluid
3. http://www.drilling-mud.org/electrical-stability-oil-based-mud-properties/

APPENDICES

Figure 1.1: The ES Tester (left) and the calibration kit (right).

Figure 1.2: Retort Kit (left) and the condensate recovered from the experiment (right).

Figure 1.3: The solid content from the samples is collected and weighted.

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