Drilling fluids processing handbook

Biographies xvii Preface xxiii 1 Historical Perspective and Introduction 1 1.1 Scope 1 1.2 Purpose 1 1.3 Introduction 2 1.4 Historical Perspective 4 1.5 Comments 11 1.6 Waste Management 13 2 Drilling Fluids 15 2.1 Drilling Fluid Systems 15 2.1.1 Functions of Drilling Fluids 15 2.1.2 Types of Drilling Fluids 16 2.1.3 Drilling Fluid Selection 17 2.1.4 Separation of Drilled Solids from Drilling Fluids 20 2.2 Characterization of Solids in Drilling Fluids 25 2.2.1 Nature of Drilled Solids and Solid Additives 25 2.2.2 Physical Properties of Solids in Drilling Fluids 26 2.3 Properties of Drilling Fluids 31 2.3.1 Rheology 32 2.4 Hole Cleaning 38 2.4.1 Detection of Hole-Cleaning Problems 38 2.4.2 Drilling Elements That Affect Hole Cleaning 40 2.4.3 Filtration 45 2.4.4 Rate of Penetration 47 2.4.5 Shale Inhibition Potential/Wetting Characteristics 51 2.4.6 Lubricity 52 2.4.7 Corrosivity 53 2.4.8 Drilling-Fluid Stability and Maintenance 542.5 Drilling Fluid Products 54 2.5.1 Colloidal and Fine Solids 54 2.5.2 Macropolymers 55 2.5.3 Conventional Polymers 56 2.5.4 Surface-Active Materials 57 2.6 Health, Safety, and Environment and Waste Management 58 2.6.1 Handling Drilling Fluid Products and Cuttings 58 2.6.2 Drilling Fluid Product Compatibility and Storage Guidelines 58 2.6.3 Waste Management and Disposal 62 References 66 3 Solids Calculation 69 3.1 Procedure for a More Accurate Low-Gravity Solids Determination 70 3.1.1 Sample Calculation 73 3.2 Determination of Volume Percentage of Low-Gravity Solids in Water-Based Drilling Fluid 77 3.3 Rig-Site Determination of Specific Gravity of Drilled Solids 78 4 Cut Points 81 4.1 How to Determine Cut Point Curves 85 4.2 Cut Point Data: Shale Shaker Example 90 5 Tank Arrangement 93 5.1 Active System 94 5.1.1 Suction and Testing Section 94 5.1.2 Additions Section 95 5.1.3 Removal Section 95 5.1.4 Piping and Equipment Arrangement 96 5.1.5 Equalization 98 5.1.6 Surface Tanks 99 5.1.7 Sand Traps 100 5.1.8 Degasser Suction and Discharge Pit 102 5.1.9 Desander Suction and Discharge Pits 102 5.1.10 Desilter Suction and Discharge Pits (Mud Cleaner/ Conditioner) 103 5.1.11 Centrifuge Suction and Discharge Pits 103 5.2 Auxiliary Tank System 104 5.2.1 Trip Tank 104 5.3 Slug Tank 105 5.4 Reserve Tank(s) 105 6 Scalping Shakers and Gumbo Removal 107 7 Shale Shakers 111 7.1 How a Shale Shaker Screens Fluid 113 7.2 Shaker Description 116 7.3 Shale Shaker Limits 118 7.3.1 Fluid Rheological Properties 119 7.3.2 Fluid Surface Tension 120 7.3.3 Wire Wettability 120 7.3.4 Fluid Density 120 7.3.5 Solids: Type, Size, and Shape 120 7.3.6 Quantity of Solids 121 7.3.7 Hole Cleaning 121 7.4 Shaker Development Summary 121 7.5 Shale Shaker Design 122 7.5.1 Shape of Motion 123 7.5.2 Vibrating Systems 133 7.5.3 Screen Deck Design 134 7.5.4 g Factor 136 7.5.5 Power Systems 140 7.6 Selection of Shale Shakers 143 7.6.1 Selection of Shaker Screens 145 7.6.2 Cost of Removing Drilled Solids 145 7.6.3 Specific Factors 146 7.7 Cascade Systems 148 7.7.1 Separate Unit 150 7.7.2 Integral Unit with Multiple Vibratory Motions 150 7.7.3 Integral Unit with a Single Vibratory Motion 152 7.7.4 Cascade Systems Summary 152 7.8 Dryer Shakers 153 7.9 Shaker User’s Guide 154 7.9.1 Installation 155 7.9.2 Operation 156 7.9.3 Maintenance 157 7.9.4 Operating Guidelines 158 7.10 Screen Cloths 159 7.10.1 Common Screen Cloth Weaves 160 7.10.2 Revised API Designation System 167 7.10.3 Screen Identification 174 7.11 Factors Affecting Percentage-Separated Curves 174 7.11.1 Screen Blinding 176 7.11.2 Materials of Construction 177 7.11.3 Screen Panels 178 7.11.4 Hook-Strip Screens 180 7.11.5 Bonded Screens 180 7.11.6 Three-Dimensional Screening Surfaces 180 7.12 Non-Oilfield Drilling Uses of Shale Shakers 181 7.12.1 Microtunneling 181 7.12.2 River Crossing 182 7.12.3 Road Crossing 182 7.12.4 Fiber-Optic Cables 182 8 Settling Pits 183 8.1 Settling Rates 183 8.2 Comparison of Settling Rates of Barite and Low-Gravity Drilled Solids 186 8.3 Comments 187 8.4 Bypassing the Shale Shaker 188 9 Gas Busters, Separators, and Degassers 189 9.1 Introduction: General Comments on Gas Cutting 189 9.2 Shale Shakers and Gas Cutting 192 9.3 Desanders, Desilters, and Gas Cutting 192 9.4 Centrifuges and Gas Cutting 193 9.5 Basic Equipment for Handling Gas-Cut Mud 193 9.5.1 Gravity Separation 195 9.5.2 Centrifugal Separation 195 9.5.3 Impact, Baffle, or Spray Separation 195 9.5.4 Parallel-Plate and Thin-Film Separation 196 9.5.5 Vacuum Separation 196 9.6 Gas Busters 196 9.7 Separators 197 9.7.1 Atmospheric Separators 197 9.7.2 West Texas Separator 198 9.8 Pressurized Separators 199 9.8.1 Commercial Separator/Flare Systems 199 9.8.2 Pressurized, or Closed, Separators: Modified Production Separators 200 9.8.3 Combination System: Separator and Degasser 202 9.9 Degassers 202 9.9.1 Degasser Operations 203 9.9.2 Degasser Types 205 9.9.3 Pump Degassers or Atmospheric Degassers 207 9.9.4 Magna-VacTM Degasser 207 9.10 Points About Separators and Separation 209 References 210 10 Suspension, Agitation, and Mixing of Drilling Fluids 213 10.1 Basic Principles of Agitation Equipment 213 10.2 Mechanical Agitators 214 10.2.1 Impellers 215 10.2.2 Gearbox 222 10.2.3 Shafts 222 10.3 Equipment Sizing and Installation 223 10.3.1 Design Parameters 223 10.3.2 Compartment Shape 226 10.3.3 Tank and Compartment Dimensions 226 10.3.4 Tank Internals 226 10.3.5 Baffles 227 10.3.6 Sizing Agitators 227 10.3.7 Turnover Rate (TOR) 228 10.4 Mud Guns 232 10.4.1 High-Pressure Mud Guns 233 10.4.2 Low-Pressure Mud Guns 233 10.4.3 Mud Gun Placement 234 10.4.4 Sizing Mud Gun Systems 235 10.5 Pros and Cons of Agitation Equipment 237 10.5.1 Pros of Mechanical Agitators 238 10.5.2 Cons of Mechanical Agitators 238 10.5.3 Pros of Mud Guns 238 10.5.4 Cons of Mud Guns 238 10.6 Bernoulli’s Principle 239 10.6.1 Relationship of Pressure, Velocity, and Head 240 10.7 Mud Hoppers 244 10.7.1 Mud Hopper Installation and Operation 246 10.7.2 Mud Hopper Recommendations 248 10.7.3 Other Shearing Devices 250 10.8 Bulk Addition Systems 250 10.9 Tank/Pit Use 253 10.9.1 Removal 253 10.9.2 Addition 254 10.9.3 Suction 254 10.9.4 Reserve 255 10.9.5 Discharge 255 10.9.6 Trip Tank 255 References 255 11 Hydrocyclones 257 11.1 Discharge 261 11.2 Hydrocyclone Capacity 265 11.3 Hydrocyclone Tanks and Arrangements 266 11.3.1 Desanders 267 11.3.2 Desilters 268 11.3.3 Comparative Operation of Desanders and Desilters 269 11.3.4 Hydrocyclone Feed Header Problems 269 11.4 Median (D50) Cut Points 270 11.4.1 Stokes’ Law 271 11.5 Hydrocyclone Operating Tips 276 11.6 Installation 278 11.7 Conclusions 279 11.7.1 Errata 281 12 Mud Cleaners 283 12.1 History 286 12.2 Uses of Mud Cleaners 288 12.3 Non-Oilfield Use of Mud Cleaners 291 12.4 Location of Mud Cleaners in a Drilling-Fluid System 291 12.5 Operating Mud Cleaners 292 12.6 Estimating the Ratio of Low-Gravity Solids Volume and Barite Volume in Mud Cleaner Screen Discard 293 12.7 Performance 295 12.8 Mud Cleaner Economics 297 12.9 Accuracy Required for Specific Gravity of Solids 300 12.10 Accurate Solids Determination Needed to Properly Identify Mud Cleaner Performance 300 12.11 Heavy Drilling Fluids 301 13 Centrifuges 303 13.1 Decanting Centrifuges 303 13.1.1 Stokes’ Law and Drilling Fluids 308 13.1.2 Separation Curves and Cut Points 308 13.1.3 Drilling-Fluids Solids 310 13.2 The Effects of Drilled Solids and Colloidal Barite on Drilling Fluids 311 13.3 Centrifugal Solids Separation 313 13.3.1 Centrifuge Installation 316 13.3.2 Centrifuge Applications 316 13.3.3 The Use of Centrifuges with Unweighted Drilling Fluids 317 13.3.4 The Use of Centrifuges with Weighted Drilling Fluids 31713.3.5 Running Centrifuges in Series 318 13.3.6 Centrifuging Drilling Fluids with Costly Liquid Phases 320 13.3.7 Flocculation Units 320 13.3.8 Centrifuging Hydrocyclone Underflows 321 13.3.9 Operating Reminders 321 13.3.10 Miscellaneous 321 13.4 Rotary Mud Separator 321 13.4.1 Problem 1 322 13.5 Solutions to the Questions in Problem 1 324 13.5.1 Question 1 324 13.5.2 Question 2 324 13.5.3 Question 3 324 13.5.4 Question 4 325 13.5.5 Question 5 325 13.5.6 Question 6 325 13.5.7 Question 7 325 13.5.8 Question 8 325 13.5.9 Question 9 326 13.5.10 Question 10 326 14 Use of the Capture Equation to Evaluate the Performance of Mechanical Separation Equipment Used to Process Drilling Fluids 327 14.1 Procedure 330 14.1.1 Collecting Data for the Capture Analysis 330 14.1.2 Laboratory Analysis 330 14.2 Applying the Capture Calculation 331 14.2.1 Case 1: Discarded Solids Report to Underflow 331 14.2.2 Case 2: Discarded Solids Report to Overflow 331 14.2.3 Characterizing Removed Solids 331 14.3 Use of Test Results 332 14.3.1 Specific Gravity 332 14.3.2 Particle Size 332 14.3.3 Economics 333 14.4 Collection and Use of Supplementary Information 334 15 Dilution 335 15.1 Effect of Porosity 337 15.2 Removal Efficiency 338 15.3 Reasons for Drilled-Solids Removal 339 15.4 Diluting as a Means for Controlling Drilled Solids 340 15.5 Effect of Solids Removal System Performance 341 15.6 Four Examples of the Effect of Solids Removal Equipment Efficiency 342 15.6.1 Example 1 343 15.6.2 Example 2 344 15.6.3 Example 3 346 15.6.4 Example 4 347 15.6.5 Clean Fluid Required to Maintain 4%vol Drilled Solids 347 15.7 Solids Removal Equipment Efficiency for Minimum Volume of Drilling Fluid to Dilute Drilled Solids 348 15.7.1 Equation Derivation 349 15.7.2 Discarded Solids 350 15.8 Optimum Solids Removal Equipment Efficiency (SREE) 351 15.9 Solids Removal Equipment Efficiency in an Unweighted Drilling Fluid from Field Data 354 15.9.1 Excess Drilling Fluid Built 356 15.10 Estimating Solids Removal Equipment Efficiency for a Weighted Drilling Fluid 357 15.10.1 Solution 358 15.10.2 Inaccuracy in Calculating Discard Volumes 360 15.11 Another Method of Calculating the Dilution Quantity 361 15.12 Appendix: American Petroleum Institute Method 361 15.12.1 Drilled Solids Removal Factor 361 15.12.2 Questions 362 15.13 A Real-Life Example 362 15.13.1 Exercise 1 362 15.13.2 Exercise 2 364 15.13.3 Exercise 3 365 15.13.4 Exercise 4 365 15.13.5 General Comments 366 16 Waste Management 367 16.1 Quantifying Drilling Waste 367 16.1.1 Example 1 368 16.1.2 Example 2 368 16.1.3 Example 3 369 16.1.4 Example 4 370 16.1.5 Example 5 371 16.1.6 Example 6 372 16.2 Nature of Drilling Waste 372 16.3 Minimizing Drilling Waste 374 16.3.1 Total Fluid Management 375 16.3.2 Environmental Impact Reduction 37716.4 Offshore Disposal Options 377 16.4.1 Direct Discharge 378 16.4.2 Injection 378 16.4.3 Collection and Transport to Shore 380 16.4.4 Commercial Disposal 380 16.5 Onshore Disposal Options 382 16.5.1 Land Application 382 16.5.2 Burial 386 16.6 Treatment Techniques 391 16.6.1 Dewatering 391 16.6.2 Thermal Desorption 395 16.6.3 Solidification/Stabilization 397 16.7 Equipment Issues 399 16.7.1 Augers 400 16.7.2 Vacuums 402 16.7.3 Cuttings Boxes 403 16.7.4 Cuttings Dryers 406 References 412 17 The AC Induction Motor 413 17.1 Introduction to Electrical Theory 413 17.2 Introduction to Electromagnetic Theory 421 17.3 Electric Motors 423 17.3.1 Rotor Circuits 424 17.3.2 Stator Circuits 425 17.4 Transformers 427 17.5 Adjustable Speed Drives 429 17.6 Electric Motor Applications on Oil Rigs 432 17.6.1 Ratings 432 17.6.2 Energy Losses 433 17.6.3 Temperature Rise 434 17.6.4 Voltage 435 17.7 Ambient Temperature 435 17.8 Motor Installation and Troubleshooting 438 17.9 Electric Motor Standards 439 17.10 Enclosure and Frame Designations 441 17.10.1 Protection Classes Relating to Enclosures 443 17.11 Hazardous Locations 444 17.12 Motors for Hazardous Duty 449 17.13 European Community Directive 94/9/EC 451 17.14 Electric Motors for Shale Shakers 454 17.15 Electric Motors for Centrifuges 45917.16 Electric Motors for Centrifugal Pumps 459 17.17 Study Questions 460 18 Centrifugal Pumps 465 18.1 Impeller 465 18.2 Casing 467 18.3 Sizing Centrifugal Pumps 470 18.3.1 Standard Definitions 471 18.3.2 Head Produces Flow 479 18.4 Reading Pump Curves 480 18.5 Centrifugal Pumps Accelerate Fluid 484 18.5.1 Cavitation 485 18.5.2 Entrained Air 486 18.6 Concentric vs Volute Casings 488 18.6.1 Friction Loss Tables 490 18.7 Centrifugal Pumps and Standard Drilling Equipment 491 18.7.1 Friction Loss and Elevation Considerations 491 18.8 Net Positive Suction Head 503 18.8.1 System Head Requirement (SHR) Worksheet 506 18.8.2 Affinity Laws 506 18.8.3 Friction Loss Formulas 507 18.9 Recommended Suction Pipe Configurations 508 18.9.1 Supercharging Mud Pumps 510 18.9.2 Series Operation 512 18.9.3 Parallel Operation 513 18.9.4 Duplicity 513 18.10 Standard Rules for Centrifugal Pumps 513 18.11 Exercises 514 18.11.1 Exercise 1 514 18.11.2 Exercise 2: System Head Requirement Worksheet 515 18.11.3 Exercise 3 517 18.11.4 Exercise 4 517 18.12 Appendix 518 18.12.1 Answers to Exercise 1 518 18.12.2 Answers to Exercise 2: System Head Requirement Worksheet 518 18.12.3 Answers to Exercise 3 520 18.12.4 Answers to Exercise 4 520 19 Solids Control in Underbalanced Drilling 521 19.1 Underbalanced Drilling Fundamentals 521 19.1.1 Underbalanced Drilling Methods 52319.2 Air/Gas Drilling 523 19.2.1 Environmental Contamination 524 19.2.2 Drilling with Natural Gas 525 19.2.3 Sample Collection While Drilling with Air or Gas 526 19.2.4 Air or Gas Mist Drilling 527 19.3 Foam Drilling 529 19.3.1 Disposable Foam Systems 529 19.3.2 Recyclable Foam Systems 530 19.3.3 Sample Collection While Drilling with Foam 532 19.4 Liquid/Gas (Gaseated) Systems 532 19.5 Oil Systems, Nitrogen/Diesel Oil, Natural Gas/Oil 535 19.5.1 Sample Collection with Aerated Systems 535 19.6 Underbalanced Drilling with Conventional Drilling Fluids or Weighted Drilling Fluids 536 19.7 General Comments 537 19.7.1 Pressurized Closed Separator System 538 19.8 Possible Underbalanced Drilling Solids-Control Problems 539 19.8.1 Shale 539 19.8.2 Hydrogen Sulfide Gas 540 19.8.3 Excess Formation Water 540 19.8.4 Downhole Fires and Explosions 540 19.8.5 Very Small Air- or Gas-Drilled Cuttings 541 19.8.6 Gaseated or Aerated Fluid Surges 541 19.8.7 Foam Control 542 19.8.8 Corrosion Control 542 Suggested Reading 542 20 Smooth Operations 547 20.1 Derrickman’s Guidelines 548 20.1.1 Benefits of Good Drilled-Solids Separations 549 20.1.2 Tank and Equipment Arrangements 549 20.1.3 Shale Shakers 550 20.1.4 Things to Check When Going on Tour 552 20.1.5 Sand Trap 552 20.1.6 Degasser 553 20.1.7 Hydrocyclones 554 20.1.8 Hydrocyclone Troubleshooting 557 20.1.9 Mud Cleaners 558 20.1.10 Centrifuges 560 20.1.11 Piping to Materials Additions (Mixing) Section 561 20.2 Equipment Guidelines 562 20.2.1 Surface Systems 562 20.2.2 Centrifugal Pumps 572 20.3 Solids Management Checklist 577 20.3.1 Well Parameters/Deepwater Considerations 577 20.3.2 Drilling Program 579 20.3.3 Equipment Capability 579 20.3.4 Rig Design and Availability 580 20.3.5 Logistics 580 20.3.6 Environmental Issues 580 20.3.7 Economics 581 Appendix 583 Glossary 585