EFFECT OF YAM PEEL DERIVED CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE (YPD-CMC) AS A RETARTDER IN OIL WELL CEMENTING

This work aimed at extracting, processing and deployment of YPD-CMC on cement pastes to observe its effect as a retarder. This is because of the need for sustainable additives that gives more time for the cement to be pumped in a hostile environment and at hundreds of meters down the well. Cellulose was extracted from dried yam peel, converted to CMC by reacting with NaOH and monochloroacetic acid, and dried with yields of 28.97%. The derived CMC was characterized and compared to the commercial CMC, using FT-IR spectroscopy. From the result gotten, it’s obvious that the YPD-CMC and commercial CMC have same functional groups, the presence carboxyl- group in the YPD-CMC indicated the successful transformation of the cellulose in yam peel to CMC through etherification. The YPD-CMC was deployed on cement to observe its effect, starting with 0% as a control volume. 0.2%, 0.5%, 2%, 4% and 5% were added to the cement sample and found to have initial and final setting time of 90, 125, 150, 245, 275, 295 and 185, 205, 225, 323, 360, 374 minutes respectively, indicating its ability to increase setting time . The result of soundness test carried out indicated that the integrity of the cement was maintained after the addition of YPD-CMC. The effect YPD-CMC on cement is almost same with that of conventional CMC, considering the significant increase in setting time recorded with small amount of derived CMC added. The research confirms the suitability of CMC from yam Peels as a set retarder in cement for oil well cementing. Further studies are needed to investigate the longterm effects of CMC on Portland cement properties and the effectiveness of CMC as substitute of gypsum.