How to choose an efficient drilling mud cleaning system

The rig's circulation system is equipped with a four-stage cleaning system for cleaning the drilling fluid, including a vibrating screen, sand separator, sludge separator and centrifuge.

In the case of drilling muds with higher design densities, the centrifuges are turned on periodically, i.e. they are effectively density regulators. Only vibrating screens are used to remove heavy drilling fluids from the sludge because the hydrocyclone mechanism removes barite from the solution along with the sludge due to centrifugal sedimentation.

For weighted solutions, the purpose of the centrifuge is to regenerate the weighting agent and return it to the solution. When drilling into clay deposits, the solution develops rapidly, its viscosity increases, and in significant volumes it drains into the dump along with the weighting agent. Viscosity reduction by dilution can only be done up to a certain level of clay colloid, requiring the introduction of chemicals and weighting agents to maintain density.

Therefore, a modern system for cleaning the weighting solution should include a centrifuge and barite agitator, which returns the weighting agent from the excess solution to the circulation, and discharges the liquid phase with the colloidal component into the barn.

This operation is carried out according to the washing cycle with the simultaneous introduction of an aqueous solution of chemicals to maintain the desired density.