Study on thermal insulation cement and its thermal insulation characteristics for geothermal wells

Reducing the heat loss in wellbore is the key for efficient development of geothermal resource. It is a reliable solution to establish a long-term stable wellbore with good thermal insulation through cementing. In this paper, the cement-based composite thermal insulation material was prepared by using cement as the cementing material, hollow glass beads, foaming agent and stabilizer as main raw materials, and other conventional admixtures. Foams and hollow glass beads can introduce gas with low thermal conductivity into cement, so as to improve the thermal insulation of composite material. Foams are produced by chemical forming process, using foaming agent, which is prepared according electrochemistry and thermodynamics, and the foam stabilizer helps foam distribute in cement slurry stably and uniformly. 10–13% hollow glass beads can significantly reduce the thermal conductivity of hardened cement, without significant adverse effects on the rheology and strength of the material. The thermal conductivity of the composite thermal insulation material can be as low as 0.2998 W·(m·K)(−1), which is 62% lower than that of conventional cement, while the compressive strength is 6.10 MPa, meeting the engineering requirement. A thermal-conductivity prediction method is proposed correspondingly based on Maxwell model, and the prediction error of the newly established model is within 2%. This research can provide technical support for efficient development of geothermal resources.