Fe2O3 nanoparticles improve the physical properties of heavy-weight wellbore cements: A laboratory study

•Fe2O3 nanoparticles improved the suspending ability of the cement.•Free water and fluid loss decreased with increasing concentration of nanoparticles.•The thickening time decreased with increasing concentration of nanoparticles.•Compressive strength, Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio increased by nanoparticles.

The application of nanomaterials to solve problems in wellbore cementing has been investigated in recent years by several research groups in the petroleum industry. This study includes the laboratory examination of the effect of Fe2O3 nanoparticles as a weighting agent on the physical properties of a heavy-weight wellbore cement. In the research process a candidate well is selected and the properties of the used cement slurry in a problematic section of the well are tested in the laboratory. Then Fe2O3 nanoparticles are added as a weighting agent to partially replace the Hidense and the improvements in the cement slurry and stone properties are studied. This article discusses the problems associated with the conventional heavy-weight wellbore cement used in the candidate well and gives the detail of the improvements in cement properties obtained by adding Fe2O3 nanoparticles to cement slurry formulation as a weighting agent. These properties include cement slurry rheological properties, free water, fluid loss, thickening time, cement stone elastic properties and compressive strength. The nano additive increases the yield point and plastic viscosity and decreases the free water and fluid loss of a cement slurry. In addition, cement stone compressive strength increases, however, there is an optimum concentration of nano additive at which the maximum compressive strength is reached. Moreover, elastic properties of the cement stone are improved and higher values for the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are achieved. The results of this study can be used to optimize the cement slurry design in any given set of conditions. The modified cement using this approach, is applicable in high pressure fluid bearing zones.