Oil Based Mud Treatment System

TR's Oil Based Mud Treatment System provides secondary treatment for drilling cuttings generated during oil-based mud (OBM) and synthetic-based mud (SBM) drilling. It combines a vertical cuttings dryer, screw conveyors, a high-speed decanter centrifuge, a screw pump, and mud tanks to recover drilling fluid from cuttings and reduce the volume of waste requiring further treatment.

Installed downstream of the rig's primary solids control equipment, the system dries the cuttings first and then cleans the recovered liquid through high-speed centrifugation before testing and potential reuse.

Key Advantages

1. Drilling fluid recovery: Recovers drilling fluid from cuttings for potential reuse.

2. Low oil-on-cuttings (OOC): Designed to reduce OOC to ≤5% by weight under defined operating conditions.

3. Fine-solids removal: Treats recovered liquid through high-speed centrifugation before it returns to the drilling fluid system.

4. Reduced waste volume: Removes more liquid from the cuttings, reducing the volume of waste requiring further handling.

5. Flexible configuration: Equipment capacity, tank arrangement, and system layout can be adapted to process requirements and site conditions.

Oil Based Mud Preparation System Configuration

How the System Works

Cuttings pass through two treatment stages: cuttings drying and recovered-fluid separation.

1. Cuttings Drying

   Cuttings discharged from the shale shaker or mud cleaner are conveyed by screw conveyor to the vertical cuttings dryer. The dryer uses centrifugal separation to remove drilling fluid from the cuttings and reduce the moisture content of the discharged solids to ≤10% under defined operating conditions.

   Liquid separated during drying flows into the collection tank for the next treatment stage.

2. Recovered-Fluid Separation

   A screw pump transfers the recovered liquid from the collection tank to the high-speed variable-frequency decanter centrifuge for further separation. The centrifuge removes fine suspended solids, which are collected for subsequent handling.

   The separated liquid is transferred by centrifuge pump to the drilling fluid circulation system for testing and potential reuse.

Applications

• OBM and SBM drilling cuttings

• Onshore oil and gas drilling

• Shale gas and unconventional drilling

• Multi-well drilling programs

• Rig-site drilling waste treatment

Selection and Engineering

System configuration depends on cuttings volume, feed rate, mud properties, OOC target, and recovered-fluid requirements. TR selects the dryer, centrifuge, pumps, and tank capacity based on these conditions.

Site power, hazardous-area requirements, available space, and lifting capacity are also considered during system design.

Manufacturing and Engineering

TR manufactures solids control equipment at its Xi'an facility, from individual units to complete treatment systems. The company also handles system engineering and integration for drilling waste treatment projects.

TR operates under an ISO 9001 quality management system, with API certification and hazardous-area documentation available for applicable projects.