BENEFICIATION AND ASSESSMENT OF AZARA BARITE ORE FOR DRILLING FLUID IN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Abstract

In this research work, raw barite ore as one of the component of drilling fluid was successfully beneficiated using froth flotation and purification method to assess its suitability in oil and gas industry. The barite ore was source from Azara, Awe local Government of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Chemical analysis on the raw barite ore indicates that it contains 56.224% of barium component and 15.247% Sulphur oxide with a specific gravity value of 3.787±0.03. After beneficiation and purification operation, the specific gravity value of the barite has increased to 4.166±0.029 while the barium and sulphur increased to 82.116% and 9.061% respectively. With purification, the specific gravity values of Azara barite obtained were 3.95, 4.166 and 4.05 corresponding to pH values of 5, 7 and 9 respectively. Frothed barite with pH of 7 was purified with 0.2M HCl and a mixture of 0.2M HCl and HOCl. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that highly crystalline peaks were obtained after froth flotation while more phases are added with purification. Therefore, since the XRD pattern peaks of barite mined from Azara are in agreement with the peaks of imported barite, XRF data and SEM images are in line with the imported 2 barite for drilling fluid application, then Azara barite ore has the potential to replace imported barite in Nigeria when given required attention.