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Article

A Drilling Cutting Derived Material for High Performance Borehole Sealing

by
Pengju Di
1,
Jinwei Hao
1,*,
Xin Li
1,
Can Zhao
1,2 and
Longyong Shu
1
1
China Coal Research Institute, Beijing 100013, China
2
China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(20), 10959; https://doi.org/10.3390/app152010959 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 29 August 2025 / Revised: 6 October 2025 / Accepted: 10 October 2025 / Published: 12 October 2025
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Versions Notes

Abstract

Borehole sealing materials have drawn significant research attention for their applications in mine disaster prevention, efficient utilization of coalbed methane resources and green mine construction. However, it is still an enormous challenge to simultaneously achieve sealing materials with lower material consumption, lower expense, and lower labor intensity for high-performance long-term borehole sealing. Meanwhile, drilling cuttings (DC) possess large production amounts, low granularity, a large workload for cleaning out the alley, high labor intensity, and high transportation cost. Herein, a composite with universal applicability to DC has been developed, which can be combined with different DC to produce a low-cost sealing material with adjustable strength, fulfilling the sealing requirements of various boreholes. The properties of the sealing material can be adjusted as required by regulating the water/cement ratio and DC content to meet the sealing requirements of different boreholes. Consequently, the DC-derived materials, featuring adjustable strengths and lower usage, can reduce cement usage, material costs, and labor intensity dramatically, displaying great promise in high-performance borehole sealing, coalbed methane extraction and utilization, timely mining waste reutilization, gas disaster prevention, and green mine construction.

1. Introduction

Coalbed methane, a vital clean resource, facilitates the low-carbon energy restructuring, yet exacerbates the greenhouse effect and may trigger coal mine accidents simultaneously [1,2,3,4,5]. High-gas and coal and gas outburst mines in China account for more than one-third of the total number and total capacity, and mine gas disaster prevention and control remain severe. Hence, it is a major research topic to achieve the goal of mine disaster prevention, efficient utilization of coalbed methane resources, and green mine construction. Gas extraction, an effective approach to efficiently utilize the coalbed methane resources, mitigate the greenhouse effect, and avoid gas outburst disasters, has been widely deployed in coal mines, and gas extraction efficiency depends on the borehole sealing performance [6,7,8]. Borehole sealing materials play a crucial role in gas extraction efficiency and coal mine safety, due to their ability to block the leakage channels and reinforce the rock surrounding the boreholes [9,10,11]. Nevertheless, with the continuous deepening of the mine and the large-scale development of deep coal resources, the outburst risk of coal seams has increased dramatically, due to complex coal seam gas situations and the incompatibility of conventional sealing materials [12,13]. Therefore, it is necessary to develop green sealing materials applied to complex coal seam conditions for disaster prevention and control, efficient utilization of coalbed methane, and green mine construction.
Numerous prominent research efforts on borehole sealing materials have recently been reported [14,15,16,17,18], but it remains a critical challenge to develop an eco-friendly sealing material with a simple operation process, low reaction heat, and brilliant grouting performance. Cement, the most widely and longest used filling material, has been widely used in mine grouting owing to its stable strength, reliable stability, low cost, wide source, and simple operation process [19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. However, traditional cement, featuring poor grouting effectiveness and high usage, is prone to blocking the grouting channel and shrinking after curing, leading to the failure of sealing holes and reduced extraction efficiency. In addition, the production of cement clinker consumes a large amount of coal, electricity, limestone, and other resources, and emits a large amount of carbon dioxide, resulting in a waste of resources and environmental pollution. In addition, common polymer-based sealing materials, such as polyurethane, silicate–polyurethane composite, and epoxy resin, have the advantages of robust stability, small usage, and admirable expansion, but they generate a large amount of heat to realize rapid reaction and expansion, threatening the safety of coal mines. The above challenges limit the application of traditional sealing materials for high-performance borehole sealing.
The annual underground drilling footage exceeds 1.5 × 108 m in China [26,27], resulting in a large amount of DC being discharged to the underground site along with the drilling construction process. The resulting solid waste, with a high reprocessing and transportation cost, occupies limited operating space, increases the ventilation resistance of the mine, pollutes the operating environment, and threatens the health of the underground workers [28]. The preparation of solid waste-based gel composite by combining DC with additives composite, a significant technical approach to solve the problem of underground solid waste disposal, can realize the in situ recycling of waste, effectively reduce the risk of underground environmental pollution, and provide elaborate solutions for clean production in mines [29,30,31]. However, the common resource utilization technology for coal gangue and other mining solid wastes shows application potential in the field of filling, but it generally possesses high requirements for raw materials, complex treatment processes, and a lack of engineering universality. Traditional waste utilization technologies require transferring the DC out of the mine for pretreatment, followed by mixing with a cementing agent and transporting to the working face, without solving the transportation cost problem in large-scale engineering applications. Furthermore, the DC, produced in various mines with different geological conditions, influences the performance of DC-based composites, making it challenging to reuse DC on a large scale. Therefore, it is highly imperative to develop an environmentally friendly and low-cost DC-based hole sealing material for in situ sealing technology to realize in-time reuse of DC, promote the stress state of the borehole, and reduce the accidents in coal mines.
Herein, we propose a composite with broad compatibility for DC to manufacture DC-derived material for high-performance borehole sealing (Figure 1). The obtained economical sealing material with on-demand performance adjustability could be employed to seal holes with varying parameters. When the water/cement ratio is 2:1, the composite shows the compressive strength of 0.35 MPa. Furthermore, under the water/cement ratio of 0.6:1 and an optimal DC content of 80%, the material demonstrates a compressive strength of 0.9 MPa, meeting the technical requirements for gas borehole sealing, guaranteeing reliable sealing performance. This work affords a revolutionary paradigm for producing borehole sealing material, featuring low dosage, on-demand capability adjustment, reduced cost and labor intensity, showing promise in effective coalbed methane extraction, mine production safety, and mining waste resource low-carbon utilization. Notably, DC from different areas exhibit diverse properties and compositions (such as organic contents, SiO2 content), which may influence the adaptability and sealing performance of the proposed material. Therefore, subsequent research will focus on the carbon sequestration ability, sealing technique, long-term sealing performance, and the adaptability for drill cuttings from various coal mines.

2. Materials and Methods

Preparation of the composite powder and composite: The primary materials and additives (Supporting Information, Materials and Methods) were mixed for an additional 60 min by the powder blending apparatus (Figure S1), and the composite powder could be obtained. Then, the composite powder was added to water at different water/cement ratios with constant stirring for 5 min to obtain the slurry. Thus, the composite was gradually synthesized. For DC-derived material, the DC was added to water at a water/cement (DC and composite) ratio of 0.6:1 with constant stirring for 3 min at various mass fractions (20–80 wt.% relative to total powder), and the above slurry was further mixed with composite powder for 5 min. The water/cement (DC and composite) ratio was adjusted within the range of 0.6:1 to 1.2:1. The samples were prepared as standard specimens (~50 mm in diameter and ~100 mm in height) in accordance with standard practice for subsequent mechanical property testing.
Characterization and measurement: Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra were measured by Thermo Nicolet Nexus 470 FTIR. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were obtained using Bruker D8. Thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA), elemental analyzer (EA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were obtained by TA Instruments SDT-Q600, Elementar vario EL cube, and TESCAN VEGA3 (Figure S2), respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) was obtained by Thermo Escalab 250Xi. The mechanical properties were tested by the mechanical strength testing apparatus (ZTRC-1500) (Figure S3). The mechanical strength tests were repeated 3 times, and the results are reported as mean ±SD. The viscosity tester (Brookfield DVNext) was used to measure the viscosity of the slurry. The permeability was measured using a GCTS testing system (RTR-4600) (Figure S4).

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Characterization of the DC

Figure 2a shows the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results of DC and composite powder. As for coal-based DC, the peak at 2913 cm−1 is due to the C-H stretching vibration of aliphatic hydrocarbons, and the peak at 1591 cm−1 corresponds to the C=C skeletal vibration of aromatic structures. The low intensity peak observed at the 700–900 cm−1 region is attributed to out-of-plane C-H vibrations of aromatic rings. The peak at 1034 cm−1 is due to the Si-O vibrations with lower peak intensity than rock-based DC, indicating the presence of small amounts of silicate minerals [32,33,34,35,36,37]. For sandstone-based DC, the peaks at 1423 cm−1 and 877 cm−1 are due to the symmetric stretching and out-of-plane bending vibrations in CaCO3, and a strong Si-O stretching at 1034 cm−1 [38,39,40,41], confirming its primary composition of silicate minerals. Similarly, the silicate minerals and CaCO3 peaks could be observed in the spectra of mudstone-based DC (1435 cm−1, 1028 cm−1, 879 cm−1). The composite powder exhibits carbonate peaks at 1479 cm−1 and 874 cm−1, and a Si-O stretching band near 1105 cm−1, implying the coexistence of carbonate and silicate. Furthermore, the weak peaks at the 3600–3700 cm−1 region may be attributed to moisture uptake by the powder samples. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of the powder material are shown in Figure 2b. For coal-based DC, the peak at 20.4° is associated with the aliphatic hydrocarbon structures connected to the condensed aromatic rings, such as branched aliphatic hydrocarbons, heteroatom functional groups, and alicyclic hydrocarbons [34,42]. A broad peak around 25° is attributed to the stacking structure between aromatic rings, corresponding to microcrystals in condensed aromatic rings [34,43]. In addition, the peak at 12.4° corresponds to kaolinite, and the peak at 26.6° corresponds to quartz [36,44]. For rock-based DC (sandstone and mudstone), the peak at ~26.7° could be observed, corresponding to the quartz. The characteristic peaks of composite powder could be observed at 23.7° (C4A3S), 32.2° and 33.2° (C2S), 33.7° (Ca2(Al,Fe3+)2O5), 41.6° (CaSO4·2H2O) [38,39,45,46].
The elemental profiles were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and an elemental analyzer (EA) (Figure 2c and Table 1). For coal-based DC, a strong C 1s peak (organic, carbonates), a weak O 1s peak (oxygen-containing functional group, oxygen-containing minerals), and extremely high carbon content (70.26%) could be observed, confirming the dominant organic component of coal, potentially facilitating the generation of robust interface interactions between organic DC and adhesives [33]. For rock-based DC, O, Si, and Al elements could be observed, corresponding to minerals such as quartz, and a weak C 1s peak corresponds to the small amounts of carbonate. The Ca (calcium sulfoaluminate, gypsum, and calcium carbonate), Si (silicate), Al (sulfoaluminate) elements, and the C element (carbonates and additives) could be observed in the composite powder. The results of the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) are shown in Table 2. Composite powder possesses high CaO content, indicating the high hydration activity, enabling the construction of composites with splendid ability. Rock-based DC mainly comprises silicate minerals (such as quartz) with low CaO content, displaying high Si-Al and low Ca characteristics, lacking active calcium sources, which is detrimental to the effective chemical stimulation by conventional techniques.
Figure 2c,d show the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the DC and composite powder. At temperatures below 150 °C, the DC loses weight due to the removal of adsorbed water, probably facilitating the nucleation of composite materials/DC hydration products (such as calcium silicate hydrate) due to the large specific surface area of the DC. For coal-based DC, the weight loss of coal at 200~500 °C is attributed to the decomposition of organic components, the release of structural water from minerals, and dehydroxylation reactions, indicating the abundance of combustible organic components in coal-based DC [47]. The functional groups in DC have promising potential to interact with the C-S-H gel and promote the strength. With the increased temperature, the remaining organic component and mineral components decomposed further [47]. Rock-based DC exhibits weight loss at temperatures between 450 and 600 °C, due to the dehydration reaction of kaolinite and other clay minerals [48]. At temperatures between 600 and 750 °C, mudstone exhibits more rapid weight loss, corresponding to the decomposition of calcium carbonate [39]. The mineral could function as fillers and frameworks, potentially reducing shrinkage and porosity, promoting the stability and long-term durability of the DC-derived material. For composite powder, the weight loss around 106 °C corresponds to the removal of adsorbed water and the dehydration of the gypsum. The weight loss at 200–400 °C may be attributed to further dehydration of gypsum and a small amount of products due to the high absorption capacity of composite materials. The rough surface of the DC and composite powder could be observed in Figure 2f–i, potentially promoting the interface bonding between the DC and the composite, resulting in a prominent mechanical strength.
As shown in Figure 3a, both coal-based DC (CBDC) and rock-based DC (RBDC) have high macroparticle (>5 mm) content. With increasing grinding time from 1 min to 7 min, the content of the macroparticle decreased dramatically (Figure 3b, Figures S5 and S6), increasing the number of optimized particles (<0.3 mm). Microcracks formed on the particle surface and expanded in an intersecting manner, leading to particle fragmentation and refinement. Figure 3c illustrates the variation in optimized particle content with processing time, showing a continuous increase from the initial state to 7 min, due to the grinding drives more coarse particles into the optimized particle size range, fulfilling the particle size requirements for grouting and sealing. With grinding times exceeding 5 min, the increase rate of the optimized particles decreased, and the optimal grinding time is chosen as 5 min. For rock-based DC, the number of macroparticles is further fragmented, and the small particles are more widely distributed in several size intervals, due to the dislocation and slip of the internal lattice structure of the rock particles. Compared with coal-based DC, rock-based DC consists of complicated minerals with high hardness and brittleness, resulting in the relatively high content of rock-based DC macroparticles at the same grinding time. It is necessary to select an appropriate grinding process according to the properties of DC to achieve efficient optimization of particle size and provide raw materials with stable quality for the grouting and sealing project. As shown in Figure 3d, the viscosity of the pure DC slurry increases with the increased DC content, due to enhanced rheological resistance caused by the accumulation of mineral particles. The viscosity of coal-based DC slurry increased dramatically over 100% powder water ratio, revealing a porous structure and strong water absorbing properties of the coal-based DC. As shown in Figure 3e, the density of rock-based DC slurry (>1.2 g/mL) is higher than that of coal-based DC (<1.0 g/mL), due to the dense particles and high specific gravity of minerals such as quartz. The density of coal-based DC slurry rose slowly within the range of 0.95–1.0 g/mL, indicating the lightness and porosity of the coal due to its carbon-based skeletal structure, resulting in a lower density. As shown in Figure 3f, due to the lack of an effective suspension component in the slurry, the sedimentation ratio of the DC slurry improved with increased concentration due to gravitational settling. The sedimentation ratio of coal-based DC slurry is higher than that of rock-based DC, implying that the water absorption and swelling of the coal enhanced interface forces, thereby strengthening the suspension stability and antisettling capacity of the slurry.

3.2. Mechanical Performance of the DC-Derived Material

As shown in Figure 4a, the strength and density of the composite decreased dramatically with the increased water/cement ratio. At a water/cement ratio of 0.5, the strength of the composite can reach ~15.3 MPa, meeting the sealing demand for water drainage boreholes. At the water/cement ratio of 1.5, the strength of the composite can reach ~1.1 MPa, potentially meeting the sealing requirement of general gas extraction boreholes. Additionally, the composite with a high water/cement ratio (>2) illustrates lower strength and good adaptability, which could be utilized for flexible sealing technology for gas extraction borehole, enabling reduced material usage and lower costs under guaranteed sealing quality. The strength of the composite material with a water/cement ratio of 2 at varying days is demonstrated in Figure 4b, showing a steady increase from ~0.35 MPa to ~0.6 MPa over 28 days, indicating continuous hydration of the composite.
As shown in Figure 4c, all DC-derived materials with large particle DC exhibit promoted compressive strength owing to the large particles (0.3–0.6 mm) working as a rigid skeleton, enhancing load transfer and mechanical interlocking, improving the strength. In contrast, small particles (<0.3 mm) provide a larger surface area, facilitating interaction between the composite, promoting the bonding of hydration products, and the coverage of adhesive materials. But the excessive amount of small particles increases water consumption, disrupts the continuity of the hydration-polymer network, and ultimately reduces mechanical performance. However, in the sealing project, the larger particle aggregates are not readily dispersed in the slurry, leading to stress concentration and reduced sealing quality. Compared with rock-based DC, coal-based DC is a porous organic material enabling the formation of stronger interface strength with adhesive materials, thereby improving interface compatibility and strength of the coal-based DC-derived material. As shown in Figure 4d, the strength and density of the composite material gradually decrease with increasing water/cement ratio, resulting from the higher ratio diluting the composite, reducing the polymer–cement network density, thereby decreasing the generation of C-S-H and AFt, and weakening the bridging effect between mudstone particles, leading to a dramatic decreased in strength and density. As shown in Figure 4e, the increased DC content improves the density by enhancing particle accumulation, yet the strength of the material reduces due to insufficient composite to maintain a continuous hydration-polymer construction. Similarly, by controlling the ratio of DC to composite and the water/cement ratio, the properties of the material can be regulated on demand for a variety of borehole sealing applications, resulting in decreased material usage and decreased costs while maintaining sealing quality. Figure 4f and Figure S7 further illustrate the effect of various ratios of coal-based DC and mudstone-based DC on material properties at 80% total DC content. The material with the highest strength is composed of 75% coal DC and 25% rock DC, due to the appropriate amount of coal enhancing strength through organic material-adhesive materials interface bonding and the enhanced dispersion of DC. However, excessive coal with a porous structure, featuring weakened strength and an undesirable tendency to crystallize, forms weak interface regions, leading to reduced strength and density. In contrast, mudstone DC with abundant clay minerals exhibits higher strength, increasing density by reducing porosity, providing more stable mechanical reinforcement. As shown in Figure S8, compressive strain of the DC-derived material exhibits a steady increase with increased strength (~0.25 MPa, ~0.50 MPa, ~0.75 MPa), confirming that the DC-derived material has relatively remarkable mechanical stability, relatively creep resistance, and excellent deformation adaptability, suggesting strong potential for long-term sealing stability. As shown in Figure S9, the compressive strength of the DC-derived material, after five days of immersion in solutions with pH of 4, 7, and 10, remained above 0.9 MPa with slight fluctuations, indicating its tolerance in acidic or alkaline environments, which has potential for water-bearing borehole sealing. Therefore, the composite, featuring broad compatibility for DC, can be combined with various types of DC to form sealing materials, solving the problems of cutting-type limitations in traditional cement, facilitating timely DC reuse, and reducing labor and cost.

3.3. Physicochemical Properties of DC-Derived Material

As shown in Figure 5a, for the composite, the broad peak at 3446 cm−1 (O-H stretching) and the peak at 1672 cm−1 (O-H bending) demonstrate the presence of bound water in hydration products [40]. The peak at 1425 cm−1 and 874 cm−1 is assigned to the C-O band, illustrating the presence of the carbonate. The peak at 1115 cm−1 is attributed to the S-O band, proving the formation of AFt [39]. The peak at 1016 cm−1 is assigned to the Si-O stretching banding, implying the development of calcium silicate hydrate gel. The above peaks can all be observed in the hydrated samples, and the intensity of the hydration products (such as C-S-H gel, AFt) peaks is significantly enhanced, with the characteristic peaks of the unhydrated raw materials gradually weakening, indicating the progress of the hydration reaction and the generation of hydration products. Specifically, the Si-O stretching is stronger in rock-based composites due to the high silicate content of the rock-based DC. The XRD patterns of the material after hydration are shown in Figure 5b. For Composite, the peaks at 9.1° and 15.8°, 23.0°, 25.6°, and 40.8° correspond to AFt (ettringite) [39,40]. The peaks at 18.9° to AFm, and peaks at ~29.4° and ~35° are attributed to C3S, and a peak for C2S is near 32.3°, indicating the formation of a significant amount of ettringite and silicate hydration products [46,49]. As for the DC-derived material, the cement matrix characteristic peaks (AFt, C3S) could be observed. The strong quartz peaks at 20.9° and 26.6° could be observed in the composite/rock-based DC, indicating that the rock-based DC exists as an aggregate. As for the composite/coal-based DC, the kaolinite characteristic peak could not be observed, owing to sample properties such as low kaolinite content and uneven distribution in the coal-based DC. Figure 5c,d show the TGA of the composite with different kinds of DC. For composite, weight loss accelerates rapidly between 100 and 200 °C, due to the dehydration decomposition of C-S-H gel and the release of adsorbed water, and AFt, Ca(OH)2, CaCO3 decomposes at 200–300 °C, 400–500 °C, and 600–800 °C, respectively [21,41,46,50]. DC contains substantial carbonate content, resulting in relatively similar weight loss rates of all hydrates at the 600–800 °C range. Compared to composite, hydrates containing DC possess the above component, but the weight loss rate and weight loss amount are reduced due to the high DC content. Similarly to coal-based DC, hydrates containing coal-based DC exhibit remarkable weight loss at 200–500 °C due to the decomposition of the organic component.
Table 3 shows the results of DC-derived material by XRF, the content of the CaO increased implying the generation of C-S-H gel and AFt, leading to the outstanding strength of the DC-derived material. The content of the SiO2 in hydrates containing rock based DC is to attributed the high DC content. As shown in Figure 6, the needle-like and flocculent materials were crosslinked with each other and the overall structure was dense. The rock based DC containing abundant silicon element, are filled and tightly covered by hydration products (S, Ca), and the abundance of calcium at the interface, indicating strong bonding between the DC and composite, potentially promoting compressive strength. Similarly, abundant hydration product (S, Ca) could be observed in the coal-based DC-derived material (Figure 6c), and the functional groups on the coal surface can interact with the composites, potentially enhancing the interface bonding and leading to the higher strength.

3.4. Sealing Performance of DC-Derived Material

Compared to traditional two-component materials and liquid materials, the prepared composite powder, a single-component powder material, possesses a higher operability, effectively enhancing transportation and construction convenience, avoiding the liquid material leakage being difficult to handle, high transportation costs, two-component materials that cannot be used independently, and performance fluctuations caused by mixing ratio variations, which improve stability and operability in engineering applications. The composite enables adjustment of the DC-composite ratio to prepare sealing materials with tailored mechanical properties, meeting diverse performance requirements. The composite can be combined with various types of DC to form sealing materials, solving the problems of cutting-type limitations in traditional cement, facilitating timely DC reuse, and reducing labor and cost.
As shown in Figure 7a, the boreholes were sealed using the “two plugging and one injection” technique for DC-derived material and traditional cement to evaluate the sealing performance. The field test was conducted in a working face with a gas pressure of 0.2–1.5 MPa, a gas content of 6.87 m3/t, a porosity of 2.87%~7.48%, and a coal seam permeability coefficient of 0.03 m2/(MPa2·d). The gas permeability of the DC-derived material (mudstone (20 wt.%)/coal (60 wt.%)/composite (20 wt.%) with water/cement ratio of 0.6:1) was determined to be 5.0 × 10−19 m2, which is superior to most previous reported cement-based materials [51,52,53,54,55,56,57]. The extraction concentration of boreholes sealed with the DC-derived material was higher than that of boreholes sealed with traditional cement. Traditional cement, a typical brittle material, tends to shrink after curing and exhibits poor adhesion to heterogeneous rock surfaces, leading to interfacial delamination, cracking, and abrasion damage, resulting in the development of leakage pathways, poor sealing performance and reduced extraction performance [58]. The polymer-modified DC-derived material exhibits brilliant deformation capacity and splendid interfacial adhesion ability, resulting in a continuous interface layer with the surrounding rock, and it can conform to borehole deformation and delay the crack development, thereby restraining the development of leakage pathways, promoting the long-term stability and borehole sealing performance. Figure 7b shows the comparison of the DC-derived material with the cement, and it is obvious that the DC-derived material had a lower material usage (composite powder ~20 kg) and outstanding extraction performance, effectively reducing labor intensity and costs. As shown in Table S1, under the same calculated grouting volume, material cost decreased from approximately 904 $/m3 to 843 $/m3, a decrease of ~7%, owing to the reduced material usage and the utilization of DC. DC-derived material demonstrates reduced carbon emissions, resulting in more than 70% lower CO2 emissions per borehole and showing promising environmental benefits [59,60].

4. Conclusions

In summary, we have developed a composite with broad applicability to DC, which can be effectively integrated with various kinds of DC to prepare low-cost sealing materials with adjustable mechanical strengths, meeting the specific requirements of diverse borehole sealing. Under a water/cement ratio of 2:1, the prepared composite exhibits a one-day compressive strength of 0.35 MPa. More importantly, with a water/cement ratio of 0.6:1 and a DC content of 80% (20 wt.% mudstone-based DC and 60 wt.% coal-based DC), the DC-derived material achieves a one-day compressive strength of approximately 0.9 MPa, potentially fulfilling the technical demands of gas borehole sealing, which is promising for high-performance borehole sealing. Accordingly, the DC-derived sealing materials, featuring lower material usage and outstanding extraction performance, can reduce cement consumption by utilizing the abundant and unmanageable DC, potentially reducing the material costs and labor intensity by virtue of the traditional cement transportation. This work paves the way for preparing multifunctional borehole sealing material with on-demand performance adjustability for its potential applications in high-performance borehole sealing, efficient gas extraction, timely and sustainable utilization of mining wastes, disaster prevention and control, and green mine construction.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app152010959/s1, Materials and Methods; Figure S1: Photographs of the powder blending apparatus; Figure S2: Photographs of the scanning electron microscopy (TESCAN VEGA3); Figure S3: Photographs of the mechanical strength testing apparatus (ZTRC-1500); Figure S4: Photographs of the GCTS testing systems (RTR-4600); Figure S5: Effect of grinding time (1 min, 3 min, 7 min) on the particle size of coal-based DC; Figure S6: Effect of grinding time (1 min, 3 min, 7 min) on the particle size of rock based DC; Figure S7: Photographs of DC-derived material, in which the total content of coal and mudstone-based DC is fixed at 80%, with coal-based drilling cuttings content of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively; Figure S8: Mechanical stability: creep curves of the DC-derived material under graded loading; Figure S9: Chemical stability: compressive strength of the DC-derived material after 5 days of immersion in solutions with pH of 4, 7, and 10; Table S1: Comparison of material cost and CO2 emissions per borehole with different sealing materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, P.D. and J.H.; Data curation, P.D. and X.L.; Funding acquisition, J.H., C.Z. and L.S.; Investigation, P.D.; Methodology, J.H.; Project administration, C.Z.; Resources, P.D. Software, X.L., C.Z. and L.S.; Supervision, J.H., C.Z. and L.S.; Validation, X.L., C.Z. and L.S.; Writing—original draft, P.D.; Writing—review and editing, J.H. All authors will be updated at each stage of manuscript processing, including submission, revision, and revision reminder, via emails from our system or the assigned Assistant Editor. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52304225) and the Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund Project of China Coal Research Institute. (2024CG-AQ-03, 2024ZL-AQ-01, 2024ZDI-07).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article and supplementary materials.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors Pengju Di, Jinwei Hao, Xin Li, Can Zhao and Longyong Shu were employed by the company China Coal Research Institute. All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Schematic diagram of dynamic sealing borehole system for DC-derived material with adjustable mechanical strength and promise for high-performance borehole sealing and enhanced gas extraction.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of dynamic sealing borehole system for DC-derived material with adjustable mechanical strength and promise for high-performance borehole sealing and enhanced gas extraction.
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Figure 2. Characterization of DC and composite powder: FTIR spectra (a), XRD patterns (b), XPS patterns (c) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, mudstone-based DC, and composite powder. TGA curves (d) and DTA curves (e) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, mudstone-based DC, and composite powder obtained under N2 atmosphere from ~25–1000 °C. (f) SEM image of the composite powder. (g) SEM image of the sandstone-based DC. (h) SEM image of the mudstone-based DC. (i) SEM image of the coal-based DC.
Figure 2. Characterization of DC and composite powder: FTIR spectra (a), XRD patterns (b), XPS patterns (c) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, mudstone-based DC, and composite powder. TGA curves (d) and DTA curves (e) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, mudstone-based DC, and composite powder obtained under N2 atmosphere from ~25–1000 °C. (f) SEM image of the composite powder. (g) SEM image of the sandstone-based DC. (h) SEM image of the mudstone-based DC. (i) SEM image of the coal-based DC.
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Figure 3. Particle size and slurry property of DC: The particle size distributions of the coal-based DC (CBDC) and rock-based DC (RBDC) before (a) and after (b) grinding for 5 min. (c) The optimized particle (<0.3 mm) content of the DC as a function of the grinding time. The viscosity (d) and slurry density (e) of the DC slurry. (f) Sedimentation ratio of the DC slurry after 48 h standing in graduated cylinders.
Figure 3. Particle size and slurry property of DC: The particle size distributions of the coal-based DC (CBDC) and rock-based DC (RBDC) before (a) and after (b) grinding for 5 min. (c) The optimized particle (<0.3 mm) content of the DC as a function of the grinding time. The viscosity (d) and slurry density (e) of the DC slurry. (f) Sedimentation ratio of the DC slurry after 48 h standing in graduated cylinders.
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Figure 4. Mechanical performance of composite and DC-derived material: (a) The compressive strength and density of the composite with varying water/cement ratio (0.5–4.0) after 1 d curing at ~20 °C and >95% RH. (b) The compressive strength of the composite with a water/cement ratio of 2.0 at curing ages of 1 d, 3 d, 7 d, 14 d, and 28 d. (c) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/DC (80 wt.%) with different kinds of DC (mudstone-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and coal-based DC) and different particles of DC (<0.3 mm, 0.3–0.6 mm) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing. (d) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/mudstone-based DC (80 wt.%) with varying water/cement ratio (0.6–1.2) after 1 d curing. (e) The compressive strength and density of the composite/mudstone-based DC as a function of the DC content (0–80 wt.%) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing. (f) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/mudstone-based DC/coal-based DC as a function of the coal-based DC content (0–100 wt.%) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing.
Figure 4. Mechanical performance of composite and DC-derived material: (a) The compressive strength and density of the composite with varying water/cement ratio (0.5–4.0) after 1 d curing at ~20 °C and >95% RH. (b) The compressive strength of the composite with a water/cement ratio of 2.0 at curing ages of 1 d, 3 d, 7 d, 14 d, and 28 d. (c) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/DC (80 wt.%) with different kinds of DC (mudstone-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and coal-based DC) and different particles of DC (<0.3 mm, 0.3–0.6 mm) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing. (d) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/mudstone-based DC (80 wt.%) with varying water/cement ratio (0.6–1.2) after 1 d curing. (e) The compressive strength and density of the composite/mudstone-based DC as a function of the DC content (0–80 wt.%) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing. (f) The compressive strength and density of the composite (20 wt.%)/mudstone-based DC/coal-based DC as a function of the coal-based DC content (0–100 wt.%) at a water/cement ratio of 0.6 after 1 d curing.
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Figure 5. Characterization of DC-derived material and composite: (a) FTIR spectra of composite and DC-derived material. (b) XRD patterns of composite and DC-derived material. TGA curves (c) and DTA (d) curves of composite and DC-derived material obtained under N2 atmosphere.
Figure 5. Characterization of DC-derived material and composite: (a) FTIR spectra of composite and DC-derived material. (b) XRD patterns of composite and DC-derived material. TGA curves (c) and DTA (d) curves of composite and DC-derived material obtained under N2 atmosphere.
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Figure 6. Microstructure and elemental mapping of DC-derived material: The SEM image and corresponding elemental mapping images of the sandstone-based DC-derived material (a), mudstone-based DC-derived material (b), and coal-based DC-derived material (c) for Al, Si, S, and Ca.
Figure 6. Microstructure and elemental mapping of DC-derived material: The SEM image and corresponding elemental mapping images of the sandstone-based DC-derived material (a), mudstone-based DC-derived material (b), and coal-based DC-derived material (c) for Al, Si, S, and Ca.
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Figure 7. Sealing performance of the DC-derived material: (a) Comparison of average extraction concentration with DC-derived material and traditional cement within 14 days. (b) Comparison of the DC-derived material with traditional cement in terms of the material usage and average extraction concentration.
Figure 7. Sealing performance of the DC-derived material: (a) Comparison of average extraction concentration with DC-derived material and traditional cement within 14 days. (b) Comparison of the DC-derived material with traditional cement in terms of the material usage and average extraction concentration.
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Table 1. The elemental composition (C, H, N, S, O) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and mudstone-based DC measured by EA.
Table 1. The elemental composition (C, H, N, S, O) of coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and mudstone-based DC measured by EA.
SampleN/%C/%H/%S/%O/%
Coal-based DC0.8770.263.940.4611.33
Sandstone-based DC0.074.180.880.195.33
Mudstone-based DC0.051.40.540.076.98
Table 2. Oxide composition of composite powder, coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and mudstone-based DC measured by XRF.
Table 2. Oxide composition of composite powder, coal-based DC, sandstone-based DC, and mudstone-based DC measured by XRF.
SampleSiO2Al2O3CaOFe2O3SO3
Coal-based DC32.9334.8210.172.389.84
Sandstone-based DC57.3425.311.727.050.44
Mudstone-based DC53.8316.538.528.250.07
Composite powder9.3823.2847.544.2910.13
Table 3. Oxide composition of composite and DC-derived materials measured by XRF.
Table 3. Oxide composition of composite and DC-derived materials measured by XRF.
SampleSiO2Al2O3CaOFe2O3SO3
Composite9.0221.9348.364.7410.31
Composite/sandstone42.519.7917.527.434.9
Composite/mudstone37.217.6721.957.964.8
Composite/coal7.219.6748.117.7311.74
Composite/mudstone/coal24.2817.9831.089.538.71
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Di, P.; Hao, J.; Li, X.; Zhao, C.; Shu, L. A Drilling Cutting Derived Material for High Performance Borehole Sealing. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 10959. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152010959

AMA Style

Di P, Hao J, Li X, Zhao C, Shu L. A Drilling Cutting Derived Material for High Performance Borehole Sealing. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(20):10959. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152010959

Chicago/Turabian Style

Di, Pengju, Jinwei Hao, Xin Li, Can Zhao, and Longyong Shu. 2025. "A Drilling Cutting Derived Material for High Performance Borehole Sealing" Applied Sciences 15, no. 20: 10959. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152010959

APA Style

Di, P., Hao, J., Li, X., Zhao, C., & Shu, L. (2025). A Drilling Cutting Derived Material for High Performance Borehole Sealing. Applied Sciences, 15(20), 10959. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152010959

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