COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF LOCALLY AVAILABLE BENTONITE AND IMPORTED WYOMING BENTONITE USED IN GEOTHERMAL DRILLING IN KENYA

Abstract

Kenya’s economy like other economies in the world relies heavily on electric power for industrial development. Due to ever increasing demand for energy, efforts towards more energy production have been given priority. This has been hampered by impacts of climate change worldwide which has led to the diversification in investments in both renewable and non renewable energy sources. The energy sector is currently attracting a lot of focus due to its critical role in driving economic development. Geothermal is one of the renewable energy sources available for electric power generation in Kenya. Most of the drilling equipment and consumables in geothermal drilling are imported; these includes drilling bits, drilling rods, drilling rigs and Bentonite (drilling mud). These increases the drilling costs and eventual costs of electricity to the consumer. There is need to look for ways of reducing costs that are involved in the drilling of geothermal resources by obtaining materials locally. The objective of this study was to assess the suitability of local Bentonite which can be used as a drilling mud in geothermal development in Kenya. This involved a comparative analysis of the physico-chemical properties of imported Wyoming Bentonite and local Bentonite. Samples were collected from the Parminters and the Krigers field in the Lewa Wildlife conservancy and were analysed in laboratories at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company in Olkaria Naivasha, Ministry of Natural resources and the Ministry of Public works. The tests carried out were; on trace metals, specific gravity and cation exchange capacity. The study results show that there was no difference in physico-chemical properties between the local Bentonite and the imported Wyoming Bentonite. The study recommends that geothermal drilling operations in Kenya should substitute the imported Bentonite for local Bentonite to save on drilling costs.