A Study on the Effects of Starches on the Properties of Alkali-Activated Cement and the Potential of Starch as a Self-Degradable Additive

• Main Authors: Huijing Tan, Xiuhua Zheng, Limenglu Ma, Haixiao Huang, Bairu Xia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-07-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: alkali-activated cement; starch; self-degradable additives; geothermal wells
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/7/1048

An urgent problem of geothermal energy source development is how to cut down the production costs. The use of temporary sealing materials can reduce the costs associated with the circulation lost by plugging, and increase the production by self-degradation. Based on the utilization of starches as self-degradable additives in the medical field, this paper investigated the effects of three kinds of starches, namely corn starch (CS), hydroxypropyl starch (HPS) and carboxymethyl starch (CMS) on the properties of alkali-activated cement (AAC). In addition, the thermal properties of starch, the compressive strength and microstructures of the cement with starch were tested, to evaluate the potentiality of starch as self-degradable additive for geothermal cement. The analysis showed that: (1) all the starches have the effect of increasing the apparent viscosity, prolonging the setting time and reducing the static fluid loss of alkali-activated cement; (2) the addition of starch increased the number of pores in 200 °C-heated cement, facilitated the leaching process, and thus promoted the self-degradation; and (3) among the three starches, CMS has the most potential as a self-degradable additive.