PETE 411

Well Drilling

Lesson 32
Cementing - Salt Solutions

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 Cementing - Salt Solutions

 Use of salt in Cement Slurries

 Unsaturated Salt Solutions
 Saturated Salt Solutions
 Types Cements
 Cement Additives
 Examples

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 Read:
Applied Drilling Engineering, Ch. 3

HW #17
Cementing of Liner
due November 27, 2002

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 Salt in Cement Slurries
Salt Zones
 Salt-saturated cements were originally used for
cementing casing strings through salt zones.
 Fresh or unsaturated salt cement slurries will
not bond satisfactorily to salt formations
because the slurry tends to dissolve or leach
away the salt at the wall of the hole.
 Salt-saturated cements will not dissolve any
more salt so a good bond can be achieved

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 Salt in Cement Slurries

Shale Zones

 Many shales are sensitive to fresh

water.
 Salt helps to protect these shales in
that they tend to prevent
excessive sloughing or heaving
of the shales.

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 Salt in Cement Slurries

Accelerator
 In low concentrations salt tends to
accelerate the setting of cement.

Retarder
 In high concentrations ( >5% by wt. of
water) the salt will tend to retard the
setting of the cement.
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Salt in Cement Slurries

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 Salt in Cement Slurries

Expansion
 Salt results in a more expansive
cement.

Freezing
 Salt reduces the freezing
temperature of cement slurries.

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 mg/L

ppm

EXAMPLE:
200,000 mg of NaCl
800,000 mg of H2O
1,000,000 mg of solution
< 1 litre of solution

of solution 9
Volume of Sodium Chloride Solution

EXAMPLE:
Adding 30 lbs of NaCl 30% by weight =
to 100 lbs of H2O 13.8% by volume
increases the volume of (SG = 2.17)
solution by ~10.7%

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Density of Sodium Chloride Solution

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 Example: Salt Solutions

30% NaCl (by weight of water) is added to

one gallon of fresh water.

Calculate the density of the mixture:

(i) Before the salt goes into solution

(ii) Using the solubility charts shown above.

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 Problem : Salt Solutions
(i) Assuming that
ρ1V1  ρ2 V2  ...  ρmix Vmix ρ W VW  ρS VS  ρmix Vmix

ρ w Vw  ρ S VS
ρmix 
Vmix

8.33 * 1  0.30 * 8.33 x 1


1  (0.30 * 8.33) / (2.17 * 8.33)

mix  9.51 lb/gal

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 Problem : Salt Solutions

(ii) From the chart,  mix  9.8 lb/gal

{ 9.51 lb/gal vs. 9.8 lb/gal !! }

{ what if we had 60% salt? }

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 Problem

Calculate the density and yield of a

cement slurry consisting of:
65% Class “A” cement
35% Pozmix cement,
6% bentonite BWOC and
10.9 gal/sk of water.

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 Problem

(i) Initial tabulations and calculations:

Weight Specific Density

Component lbs/sk Gravity lbs/gal
Class “A” 94 3.14 8.33*3.14 = 26.16
Pozmix 74 2.46 8.33*2.46 = 20.49
Bentonite 2.65 8.33*2.65 = 22.07
Water 1.00 8.33*1.00 = 8.33

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 Problem

(ii) Determine the properties of one sack of dry

cement mixture; 65% Class “A” and 35%
Pozmix:
Cement Weig ht (lbs) Vol. (gal)
61.1
Class A, 0.65 sk 0.65 * 94  61.1  2.336
26.16
25.9
Pozmix, 0.35 sk 0.35 * 74  25.9  1.264
20.49

87.0 3.600
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 Problem

(iii) Determine density and yield of final slurry:

Component Weight (lbs) Vol. (gal)

Cmt. mix, 1 sk 87.0 3.600

5.22
Bentonite, 6% 0.06 * 87  5.22  0.2365
22.07

Water, 10.9 gal 10.9 * 8.33  90.80 10.9

183.02 14.7365
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 Problem

183.02
mix   12.42 lb/gal 
14.74

14.74 gal/sk
Yield  3
7.48 gal/ft

 1.97 ft / sk
3

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