Solid Control & Drilling Waste Management Solution

As the drill bit grinds downward through the rock layers, it generates large amounts of ground-up rock known as drill ing waste . The conventional process of drilling oil and gas wells uses a rotary drill bit that is lubricated by drilling fluids or mud. This section discusses several alternative drilling practices that result in a lower volume of drilling waste  generated. Usually wells are not drilled from top to bottom at the same diameter, but rather in a series of progressively smaller-diameter intervals. Oil and gas wells are constructed with multiple layers of pipe known as casing. The top interval is drilled starting at the surface and has the largest diameter hole with large quantity of  drill ing waste . Drill bits are available in many sizes to drill different diameter holes. The hole diameter can be 20" or larger for the uppermost sections of the well, followed by different combinations of progressively smaller diameters....

Drilling mud is pumped from the surface through the hollow drill string, exits through nozzles in the drill bit, and returns to the surface through the annular space between the drill string and the walls of the hole.  Drilling fluid is used to control subsurface pressures, lubricate the drill bit, stabilize the well bore, and carry the cuttings to the surface, among other functions. As the drill bit grinds rocks into drill cuttings, these cuttings become entrained in the mud flow and are carried to the surface. In order to return the mud to the mud circulating system and to make the solids easier to handle, the drill cuttings must be separated from the mud. The first step in drill cuttings separation  from the mud involves circulating the mixture of mud and cuttings over vibrating screens called shale shakers. The mud passes through the screens and is circulated back to the mud tanks from which mud is withdrawn for pumping downhole. The d...