One of the most serious issues when drilling oil wells is lost circulation. Circulation is lost when the total pressure exerted against the formation at any depth exceeds the formation's breakdown pressure. Lost circulation also occurs due to fractured consolidated formations with large vugular cavities. When heavier wellbore muds exert pressures greater than the formation or fracture pressure, whole mud can be lost into the formation. Lost circulation leads to the loss of materials, rig time, and other resources, costing more than a billion dollars annually. Lost circulation happens during drilling in around 20%-25% of wells drilled globally, which can result in a blowout. This problem develops when the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud exceeds the formation pressure. Many biological and synthetic materials can be employed as lost circulation materials to solve this problem (LCM). Because environmental preservation has been the key priority before hydrocarbon exploration, selecting muds and their additives has become complicated. Many plant-based organic particles are utilized commercially as fluid-loss materials since plants and fruits are plentiful, affordable, and widely accessible.

The researchers of this study hope to find a viable alternative to these chemical products by investigating the feasibility of utilizing agricultural food wastes from corn abundant in the Philippines. Several studies have used agricultural wastes as additives to drilling fluids. However, most of these materials fail to comply with the API standards for drilling fluids. Hence, there is a need to investigate other agricultural wastes as potential sources of additives for drilling fluids that could comply with the API standards. In this study, the husks of corn are converted into lost-circulation materials in the form of corn husk powder.