Apparatus and methods for lithology and mineralogy determinations

1. A method of analyzing a wellbore during drilling operations comprising:

retrieving a mixture of cuttings and a fluid from the wellbore;

directing the mixture of cuttings and the fluid to a screen;

directing the cuttings through a path to a cutting disposal area;

capturing a hyperspectral image of the cuttings while the cuttings are on at least one of the screen and the path to the cutting disposal area;

analyzing a shape of the cuttings using the hyperspectral image;

analyzing the hyperspectral image to identify the presence of hydrocarbon on surfaces of the cuttings; and

determining at least one of a mineralogy and a lithology of the wellbore using the analysis of the hyperspectral image of the cuttings.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the hyperspectral image of the cuttings further comprises analyzing at least one of texture of the cuttings, size of the cuttings, and identification of residue on the cuttings.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein analyzing the texture of the cuttings comprises performing at least one of a fractal analysis and a two-dimensional Fourier analysis.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is a drilling fluid.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cuttings are cleaned before capturing a hyperspectral image of the cuttings.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

isolating the cuttings from ambient light,

illuminating the cuttings with a light of known spectral content; and

identifying one or more predetermined materials on the cuttings.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the captured hyperspectral image of the cuttings while the cuttings are on at least one of the screen and the path to the cutting disposal area, comprises a background hyperspectral image and a cuttings' hyperspectral image, further comprising:

identifying the background hyperspectral image;

removing the background hyperspectral image from the captured hyperspectral image of the cuttings while the cuttings are on at least one of the screen and the path to the cutting disposal area; and

determining the cuttings' hyperspectral image.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining brittleness of a portion of the wellbore using the determined mineralogy of the wellbore and using the determined brittleness to identify a portion of the wellbore to fracture.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining a hyperspectral image of the fluid as a control sample and performing differential work using the captured hyperspectral image of the cuttings and the captured hyperspectral image of the control sample, wherein the captured hyperspectral image of the cuttings represents the cuttings in an uncleaned state.

10. A system for monitoring formation characteristics comprising:

a drill bit for drilling the formation;

a mud pump for pumping a drilling fluid to the drill bit;

a mud return line for returning the drilling fluid from the drill bit;

wherein the returned drilling fluid comprises a fluid portion and formation cuttings;

a shale shaker for separating the fluid portion from the formation cuttings;

wherein the shale shaker comprises a disposal path for disposing of the formation cuttings;

a hyperspectral image capture mechanism for capturing a hyperspectral image of the formation cuttings;

wherein the hyperspectral image of the formation cuttings is captured on at least one of the shale shaker and the disposal path;

wherein the captured hyperspectral image of the formation cuttings is used to determine shape of the cuttings;

wherein the captured hyperspectral image of the formation cuttings is used to identify the presence of hydrocarbon on surfaces of the cuttings; and

wherein the captured hyperspectral image of the formation cuttings is analyzed to monitor formation characteristics.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein at least one of image resolution, image capture area, and image sampling rate is set by an operator.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the formation characteristics comprise at least one of formation mineralogy and formation lithology.

13. A method of characterizing a formation comprising:

drilling a well bore in the formation;

retrieving cuttings from the well bore while drilling the formation;

continuously obtaining a hyperspectral image of the cuttings;

determining shape of the cuttings using the hyperspectral image;

identifying the presence of hydrocarbon on surfaces of the cuttings using the hyperspectral image; and

analyzing the obtained hyperspectral image of the cuttings to determine formation characteristics.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein retrieving cuttings from the well bore comprises:

pumping a drilling fluid into the well bore;

retrieving a mixture of the drilling fluid and cuttings from the well bore; and

separating the cuttings from the well bore from the mixture of the drilling fluid.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the formation characteristics comprise at least one of formation mineralogy and formation lithology.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein continuously obtaining a hyperspectral image of the cuttings comprises capturing one of 100 images per second and 128 images per second.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein analyzing the obtained hyperspectral image of the cuttings comprises analyzing at least one of shape of the cuttings, texture of the cuttings, size of the cuttings, and identification of residue on the cuttings.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein analyzing the texture of the cuttings comprises performing at least one of a fractal analysis and a two-dimensional Fourier analysis.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cuttings are cleaned before obtaining a hyperspectral image of the cuttings.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

isolating the cuttings from ambient light,

illuminating the cuttings with a light of known spectral content; and

identifying one or more predetermined materials on the cuttings.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the light of known spectral content is selected from the group consisting of ultraviolet, infrared and visible light.

22. The method of claim 13 , wherein the obtained hyperspectral image of the cuttings comprises a background hyperspectral image and a cuttings' hyperspectral image, further comprising:

identifying the background hyperspectral image;

removing the background hyperspectral image from the obtained hyperspectral image of the cuttings; and

determining the cuttings' hyperspectral image.