Design and Early Age Performance of Sustainable One-Part Geopolymers for Well Cementing

Abstract

One-part geopolymers, known as “just add water” (JAW), alkali-activated formulation is presented in this work. This work reveals the design and development of short-term properties of JAW geopolymers for use in oilwell cementing and well abandonment. Granite-based mix designs normalized with a byproduct slag and a small amount of microsilica as precursors were developed. The solid activator is composed of potassium silicate and potassium hydroxide, which are mixed with the precursors to synthesize the JAW formulation. Zinc oxide is used as a strength booster admixture. The cementing properties of the developed granite-based mix designs were characterized by investigating reaction phases and mechanical properties. Dissolution, heat evolution, pumpability, strength development, and mineralogy are also studied. The results show that a positive correlation among all the given analyses for the final geopolymeric product is quite observable. Zinc oxide is favorable to be added for optimizing the given precursor mix design to enhance the solubility and leads to much higher heat evolutions. Furthermore, it develops early strength up to 16 MPa without any negative effect on the investigated one-part geopolymer slurries.