Tannin from local Rhizophora Mucronata barks as deflocculant in drilling fluids

Abstract

Optimization of drilling fluids is required to make sure the drilling fluids performance is at its best. There are few elements in drilling fluids that can be optimized and one of it is dispersant. Dispersant in general substances added to the suspension to improve separation and also prevent it from settling and clumping. In drilling fluids or mud, dispersant were better referred as deflocculant. The major purpose of using deflocculant is to reduce viscosity of drilling fluids and prevent colloid to occur or any sorts of suspension in mud. One possible dispersant or thinner for drilling fluids identified is tannin from bark waste. In this report, the source of tannin is from the bark of Rhizophora Mucronata taken from Kuala Sepetang, Perak. The best extraction solvents are methanol and water at 100°C with total extraction time of 3 hours. There are 72.86% of condensed tannin and 0.1085% of hydrolysable tannin in Rhizophora Mucronata. Based on the experimental results performance, tannin extracts from Rhizophora Mucronata barks work best at temperature ranging from 225°F to 275°F with not more than 8 grams concentration. The plastic viscosity and yield point for tannin show similar results to the industrial tannin at these temperature and gram concentration. Therefore, for this master project it can be concluded that tannin from Rhizophora Mucronata is feasible to be used as deflocculant for drilling fluids as its performance is on par with industrial deflocculant.