Effect of Drilling Cuttings Transport on Pressure Drop in a Flowing Well

Cuttings transport has a major impact on the economics of the drilling process. It is one of the major factors affecting cost, time and quality of drilling wells. In spite of the many technological advances that have attempted to prevent the cuttings transport along the fluid, one significant challenge remains predicting the effect of cutting transport on pressure drop. Many interdependent variables affect cuttings transport and the complexity of the phenomena present challenges to the production engineer whose tries to determine how the cuttings transport affect the pressure in vertical flow. Meanwhile, many correlations have been developed to determine the effect of cutting transport in vertical flow but there is little information related to effect of cuttings transport on pressure drop and cutting hold up along the vertical pipe. This paper presents comprehensive details of effect of cutting transport on pressure drop and the detrimental effect of drill cutting hold-up on fluid flow along the vertical pipe

Experimental Characterization of Maize Cob and Stalk Based Pellets for Energy Use

The quest for alternative energy sources is gradually shifting from natural fossil fuel to alternative bio-resources especially agricultural waste products due to their reduced pollution risk and sustainability. This study seeks to investigate the suitability of plant residue pellets to produce biomass. The plant residues investigated include corn cob and corn stalk. Three samples produced include 100% granulated corn cob residues, 100% granulated stalks and a composite of 50:50% granulated corn cobs and stalk residues. The mixed residues were pelletized using cassava starch as a binder. The pellets were experimentally analyzed using ultimate, proximate and calorimetry analyses. Among three sets of maize residue pellets investigated, the result of the cob-stalk 50:50% combination show that it has 0.64% nitrogen, 48.57% carbon, 0.38% Sulphur, 6.22% hydrogen, 55.81% oxygen, 3.25% moisture content, 2.20% ash content, 80.0% volatile matter, 17.80% fixed carbon percentage, HHV of 32.9 kJ/kg, an average CO2 value of 563±50 PPM, an average CO value of 100±50 PPM, an average value of 69±4% relative humidity and an average temperature of 27.5±0.5%. The study reiterates that corn stalk is a good bio-fuel and should be encouraged to address the current energy shortfalls in the country