Geothermal wells are challenging environments for cements due to their high temperatures and corrosive chemical environments, commonly leading to failures of the cement lining that necessitate costly repairs. In order to improve the chemical and thermal resistivity of the cements and thus the lifetime of the geothermal well, we have incorporated polymer precursors into the cement slurry. By increasing the water to cement ratio, we found that it was possible to create polymer cement slurries with similar consistencies to that of standard well cements. While the additional water and polymer decreases the compressive strength of the polymer cement composites, the composites still have sufficient strength (~1,000 psi) for geothermal well applications. Thermal and chemical stability tests are underway to determine the degree to which the polymer improves the stability of the polymer cement composites and examine the potential self-healing ability of these composites.

Polymer cement composites for geothermal wells

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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