Designing smart environmental efficiency fluids

Abstract

An environmental-efficiency fluid is designed by a system and/or method. The fluid can be for use in a down-hole operation in a well. The design produces the environmental-efficiency fluid from a treatment fluid and drill cuttings. For example, the system and method can include creating an analysis of a rheological model generated from a set of wellbore conditions and a set of drill-cutting properties to determine a set of rheological properties for the treatment fluid and a concentration of drill cuttings, which allow for use of the drill cuttings with the treatment fluid; and producing the environmental-efficiency fluid based on the rheological properties and the concentration of drill cuttings.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of designing an environmental-efficiency fluid for use in a down-hole operation in a well, wherein the environmental-efficiency fluid is produced from a treatment fluid and drill cuttings, the method comprising:
 (a) defining a set of wellbore conditions for the down-hole operation;   (b) defining set of drill-cuttings properties;   (c) creating an analysis of a rheological model generated from the set of wellbore conditions and the set of drill-cutting properties to determine a set of rheological properties for the treatment fluid and a concentration of drill cuttings, which allow for use of the drill cuttings with the treatment fluid; and   (d) producing the environmental-efficiency fluid based on the rheological properties and the concentration of drill cuttings.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of producing the environmental-efficiency fluid comprises:
 determining a set of components available for producing the treatment fluid;   determining a formulation of selected components from the set of components, wherein the formulation is predicted to have the set of rheological properties;   blending the selected components to produce treatment fluid in accordance with the formulation; and   blending the drill cuttings with the treatment fluid to produce the environmental-efficiency fluid.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of wellbore conditions comprises at least one of temperature, pressure, pH of wellbore fluid, or salinity of wellbore fluid. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of drill-cuttings properties comprises at least one of density, particle size distribution, shape factor, oil content or hardness for the drill cuttings. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of rheological properties comprises at least one of yield point, yield stress, and high-shear viscosity. 
     
     
         6 . A method of designing an environmental-efficiency fluid for use in a down-hole operation in a well, wherein the environmental-efficiency fluid is produced from a treatment fluid and drill cuttings, the method comprising:
 (a) providing the drill cuttings;   (b) providing the treatment fluid;   (c) defining a set of treatment fluid properties for the treatment fluid;   (d) defining a set of drill cuttings properties for the drill cuttings;   (e) creating an analysis of a rheological model generated from the set of drill-cutting properties and the treatment fluid properties to determine a target particle size distribution for the drill cuttings based on a target drill cuttings concentration for use of the drill cuttings with the treatment fluid;   (f) reducing the particle size distribution of the drill cuttings to match the target particle size distribution determined in step (e) to produced modified drill cuttings; and   (g) producing the environmental-efficiency fluid by combining the modified drill cuttings with the treatment fluid.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of reducing the particle size distribution of the drill cuttings to match the target particle size distribution comprises:
 milling the drilling cuttings to reduce the particle sizes and produce milled cuttings; and   separating the milled cuttings to produce the modified drill cuttings having the target particle size distribution.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising defining a set of wellbore conditions and wherein the rheological model is additionally generated from the set of wellbore conditions. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the set of wellbore conditions comprises at least one of temperature, pressure, pH of wellbore fluid, or salinity of wellbore fluid. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the set of drill-cuttings properties comprises at least one of density, particle size distribution, shape factor, oil content or hardness for the drill cuttings. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the set of treatment fluid properties comprises rheological properties selected from yield point, yield stress, and high-shear viscosity. 
     
     
         12 . A method of designing an environmental-efficiency fluid for use in down-hole operations in a well, wherein the environmental-efficiency fluid is produced from a treatment fluid and drill cuttings, the method comprising:
 (a) providing drill cuttings;   (b) determining cutting properties for the drill cuttings;   (c) determining oil content of the drill cuttings, and when the oil content is above a threshold value, removing excess oil from the drill cuttings until the oil content is below the threshold value;   (d) defining a set of wellbore conditions for the down-hole operation;   (e) creating an analysis of a rheological model generated from the set of wellbore conditions and the set of drill-cutting properties to determine a set of rheological properties for the treatment fluid to suspend a target concentration of drill cuttings in the treatment fluid during the down-hole operation; and   (f) producing the environmental-efficiency fluid based on the rheological properties and the concentration of drill cuttings.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the step of providing drill cuttings comprises collecting drill cuttings from the drilling of the well. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of providing drill cuttings further comprises reducing the particle size distribution of the drill cuttings to match a target particle size distribution. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the step of reducing the particle size of the drill cuttings to match the target particle size distribution comprises:
 milling the drilling cuttings to reduce the particle sizes and produce milled cuttings; and   separating the milled cuttings to produce the modified drill cuttings having the target particle size distribution.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the step of producing the environmental-efficiency fluid includes:
 determining a set of components available for producing the treatment fluid;   determining a formulation of selected components from the set of components, wherein the formulation is predicted to have the set of rheological properties;   blending the selected components to produce treatment fluid in accordance with the formulation; and   blending the drill cuttings with the treatment fluid to produce the environmental-efficiency fluid.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the set of wellbore conditions includes at least one of temperature, pressure, pH of wellbore fluid, or salinity of wellbore fluid. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the set of drill-cuttings properties includes at least one of density, particle size distribution, shape factor, oil content or hardness for the drill cuttings. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the set of rheological properties includes at least one of yield point, yield stress, and high-shear viscosity. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the environmental-efficiency fluid is pumped down-hole by one or more pumps.