Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Drilling Cuttings

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems and methods for elemental analysis of rock cuttings in underbalanced coiled tubing drilling. The systems and methods include a laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system; an ultrasonic shaking plate configured to separate rock cuttings from a drilling slurry; and a wireless communications system communicatively coupled to the LIBS system. One or more processors are configured to perform operations including introducing a drilling slurry including powdered rock cuttings to the ultrasonic shaking plate. The ultrasonic shaking plate is operated to separate the powdered rock cuttings from the drilling slurry. One or more recordings are captured of the powdered rock cuttings using the LIBS system. An elemental analysis of the powdered rock cuttings is determined based on the one or more recordings; and the elemental analysis is transmitted to an external computing system by the wireless communications system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.