The composition and activation aspects of El-Fayoum clays for using as a drilling fluid

The local consumption and the high importation cost of imported bentonite to Egypt led to find local substitute solutions for economical aspects. Hence, this paper presents the composition and activation capability of clays collected from the claystone quarries in Kom Oshim area at El-Fayoum province, Egypt for their application as a drilling fluid (water-based mud). It is an attempt to minimize the importation cost of the imported bentonites to Egypt by a local solution and maximize the usage of the studied clay sediments. The physical, chemical, thermal and mineralogical characteristics of five Egyptian clay samples were studied. The rheological properties of the prepared slurries from these samples and their activation characterization during studying the influence of NaOH and POLYPAC-R polymer as activators were investigated. It was found that the non-activated samples cannot be used as a drilling mud but it could be after the activation process where some significant changes in the rheological properties were observed. The experimental results revealed that the activated fitted samples may express as medium grade bentonitic clay and this type of clay can be used as a drilling fluid for shallow depth wells.