SPE 7011

SPE
Society of Petroleun Engineers of AIME

SOLIDS CONTROL IN ADRILLING FLUID

by William H. t1arshall and Louis K. Brandt,
The Brandt Company

Copyright 1978, American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.
This paper was presented at the Third Symposium on Formation Damage Control of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME held in Lafayette, Louisiana, February 15-16, 1978. The material is subject to
correction by the author. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Write: 6200 N. CentraJ Expy, Dallas, Texas 75206.

ABSTRACT

The higher costs of drilling today as well perform required functions. All commercial
as the increased depths required are forcing solids have a particle size of less than one
operators and contractors around the world to micron with the exception of barite and LCM
become knowledgeable of the benefits, tech- (lost circulation material). Barite particle
niques, and equipment available to control size distribution runs from 1 to 74 microns
solids effectively in a drilling fluid. Through as is indicated in Figure 1. Lost circulation
the use of shale shakers, desilters, mud clean- material varies in its size; however, LCM is
ers, and centrifuges, solids concentrations can considerably larger than barite.
be effectively controlled. This discussion will
not include the detrimental effect of drill Drill solids are those solids that enter
solids on the formation itself, but will cover the mud in the form of cuttings or cavings
the "whys" and "hows" of controlling drill so- from the formations being drilled. Drill
lids using this equipment. solids vary in their particle size from less
than one micron to 1500 microns and larger.
~HAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A DRILLING MUD? Drill solids are necessarily in the mud; how-
ever, their time in the mud should be limited
The purpose of a drilling mud can be to the time it takes to circulate from the
broken into nine basic functions: bit back to surface. The composition of dril
1. Cool and lubricate the bit solids is, of course, the same as the composi-
2. Carry cuttings out of the well bore tion of the formation being drilled or having
3. Suspend cuttings when circulation is been drilled earlier in the well. One of the
stopped most important objectives in drilling any well
4. Release cuttings once they reach the is to control the concentration, size, and
surface type of solids in the drilling mUd. Meeting
5. Prevent the walls from caving this objective can eliminate many related
6. Eliminate adverse effect on the problems through the duration of a well. This
formation task is the responsibility of the people
7. Control subsurface pressures engineering the well, the operations personnel
8. Allow maximum well gathering information the drilling contractors, and the mud company.
9. Help support the drill string The cooperation and understanding of all of
the above individuals is necessary to meet
~HAT IS IN A DRILLING FLUID? this objective.

The majority of drilling fluids in use The actual dollar value of today's drill-
oday employ water as the liquid phase and are ing fluids is quite often a significant direct
hus classified as water-base muds. The re- cost factor of a well. The typical mud systerr
mainder of today's drilling fluids use oil as contains between 1000 and 2000 barrels. The
he continuous liquid phase and are classifi- figures below are average costs to build
ed as oil-base muds. The solid phase of drill- various types of muds:
'ng muds may be broken into two basic types:
Mud Weight Water Muds Oil Muds Polymer Muds
1. Commercial solids
2. Drill solids 9#/gal $IO/bbl $5l/bbl $30/bbl
l2#/gal 21/bbl 54/bbl 63/bbl
Commercial solids are those solids that l5#/gal 34/bbl 57/bbl
~re purchased from the mud company and placed l8#/gal 53/bbl 60/bbl
~n the mud to obtain desired properties to
110 SOLIDS CONTROL IN A DRILLING FLUID
The investment in 2000 barrels of l5#/ga HOW CAN SOLIDS BE CONTROLLED?
water-base mud is $68,000. Certainly worth
taking care of!
Since the primary enemy of any drilling
mud is drill solids, let's consider the
source of these solids and how they might be
apprehended. All drill solids are circulat-
ed out of the hole by the drilling mud. Some the bad blood. Modern medicine says to give
solids are large and some are small. These
solids are shown in Figure 1. Let's classify drill solids can be generally grouped into
these solids as follows:
440 microns and larger - large drill
74 to 440 microns - sand
2 to 74 microns - silt
0.5 to 2 microns - clay
.001 to 0.5 microns - colloids
(.001 inches = 25.4 microns)
A few of any of these solids will not
severely hinder the functions of drilling mud
After all, it is designed to "carry solids";
but when the concentration of anyone type
or size of solids begins to climb above its
engineered level in the mud program, a prob-
lem is imminent. Also, if a solid is allowed
to stay in the mud, it does not keep its
original appearance. It may come out of the
well bore at a size of 100 microns. If allow
ed to stay in the mud it will be circulated
through the pumps, back down the hole,
through the jets, and eventually will be
ground into smaller solids called silt, clay,
or colloids. Just one particle with a dia-
meter of 100 microns will become 125,000
particles with a diameter of 2 microns, and
it takes 50 times as much liquid to coat the
surface of this same mass of drill solids.
The solids concentration has not changed;
however, the water or oil requirements have
increased many times. This thickening pro-
cess is known as viscosity and is one of the
most ominous signs to be looked for. A so-
lids problem can therefore appear without
ever having an absolute increase in the
solids concentration.
WHY CONTROL SOLIDS IN A DRILLING FLUID?
The potential benefits of controlling
solids in a drilling fluid may be summarized
in the following list:
1. Lower mud cost
2. Longer bit life
3. Longer life of pump expendables
4. Increase in drilling rate
5. Reduction of differential pressure
sticking
6. Reduction of cementing problems
7. More positive control of mud rheology
8. Reduction of total waste volume
9. Minimize formation alteration
10. Maximize accuracy and use of informa-
tion retrieved from the well bore
Anyone of these ten items will more
than pay for the cost in planning time and
equipment rental necessary to minimize drill
solids! The last two items are of primary
interest to this group.
SPE7011
Out of pure necessity the"drill solids
concentration in every drilling mud in the
world is controlled to some degree. However,
some of the techniques used are quite similar
to the century old medical practice of "bleed
ing" a man that had an injury to get rid of
him a transfusion. Methods of controlling
four basic categories:
solid~ 1. Mechanical treatment
2. Dilution of whole mud
3. Jetting of whole mud
4. Chemical treatment
Each of these methods has its place;
however, dilution and jetting are used far
too frequently when a little planning and
a lot less dollars would indicate mechanical
treatment to be more effective and more
economical.
1. Mechanical treatment simply means to
mechanically remove solids using shale
shakers, desilters, desanders, mud cleaners,
and centrifuges. Each particular type of
mud and well may vary in the choice of equip-
ment and method of operation. Figure 1
indicates the particle size that can be re-
moved by each type of mechanical equipment.
Standard Shaker - solids larger than
440 microns
Fine Screen Shaker - solids larger than
150 microns
Desilters - solids larger than 25 microns
(unweighted muds, or muds
with inexpensive liquid phase
Mud Cleaner - solids larger than 85
microns (weighted muds or muds
with expensive liquid phase)
Centrifuge - solids three to five microns
and smaller
Each piece of equipment "works on" a
certain particle size range, thus maximum
benefit is obtained by allowing several
pieces of mechanical equipment to work to-
gether to effectively remove a broad size
range of solids. One piece of equipment will
not take the place of another piece of equip-
ment; however, the effective use of one piece
of equipment might delay or eliminate the
need for a downstream piece of equipment de-
pending on the severity of the grinding
effect and the specific size of the drill
solids coming out of the well bore. It is
important to remove the larger solids first
so that the downstream equipment is not over-
loaded. For example, it is much more effec-
tive to remove one particle 100 microns in
diameter with a mud cleaner than it is to
attempt to remove 125,000 two micron parti-
cles with a centrifuge. Every mud system
should utilize a fine screen shaker and a mud
cleaner or desilter (depending on the value
of the mud). With this mechanical equipment
drill solids can be controlled on all but
the most difficult wells. On these difficult
jobs a centrifuge is needed.
SPE7011 WILLIAM H. MARSHALL
2. Dilution of whole mud is simply to
thin the mud by the addition of liquid (water
or oil). Dilution requires the addition of
all of the chemicals, gel, barite, etc. in the down to 15-25 microns. For the unweighted
whole mud so that this new mud (the dilution
stream) will "look like" and "behave like"
the old mud except for the drill solids. No
drill solids get removed. The drill solids
are only temporarily masked by increasing the
volume of whole mud.
3. Jetting of whole mud is to literally
"throwaway" a certain amount of mud because
of excessive volume (generally caused by
dilution or a severe solids problems). Un-
like dilution, some drill solids are dispos-
ed of but at a cost per barrel equal to that
of the whole mUd. If 40 barrels of a 2000
barrel system are jetted, only two percent
of the drill solids are removed. Jetting is
a very expensive means of reducing the overall
solids concentration. As with dilution the
drill solids are only temporarily masked.
4. The fourth means of removing drill
solids is to "flocculate" the solids or to
cause the small solids to bunch together so
that they can be removed mechanically or
allowed to "settle out" in the steel pits or
the reserve pit. Flocculation when employed
generally is in conjunction with mechanical
treatment.
BASICS OF MECHANICAL SEPARATION
All mechanical separation equipment
employs mass differences, size differences,
or a combination of the two to selectively re-
move undesirable solids and leave desirable
solids in the drilling fluid. As pointed
out initially, most desirable solids are quite
small when compared to drill solids. If the
majority of the drill solids 75-80 microns
and larger can be removed from the drilling
mud before making one comple"te circulation,
the solids concentration can be effectively
and economically controlled in all but the
most difficult cases. The standard shaker
(rig shaker), the fine screen shaker, and the
mud cleaner employ screens to remove drill
solids. The desilter, desander, mud cleaner,
and centrifuge employ centrifugal force to
remove solids. All of these pieces of equip-
ment can and should handle the entire mud
flow except for the centrifuge which will
process only a portion of the total flow.
All mud should be processed by the
shale shaker when it comes out of the flow
line. Ideally a fine screen shaker is used;
however, even a rig shaker will adequately
remove the larger solids realizing that drill
solids missed by the shaker must be removed
downstream. The following slides will show
a standard and fine screen shaker. Basic
differences in design, including amplitude and
frequency of vibration, screen arrangement,
screen motion, screen support, and screen
opening will not be discussed here.
After being processed by the shaker, all
mud should be processed by desanders and de-
silters or a mud cleaner. If an unweighted
111
mud with a relatively inexpensive liquid
phase is being used, desanders and desilters
should be used. They will remove solids
mud system, the liquid loss is not signifi-
cant unless the cost per barrel is valuable
such as with an invert mud or polymer mud.
On a weighted mud system, the solids in this
particle size range represent a significant
cost in barite loss.
In the case of a valuable liquid phase
or weighted mud system, the use of desilters
and desanders becomes quite expensive. In
this case a mud cleaner should be used to
process the entire mud flow. Desilters are
still used, but rather than discarding the
entire hydrocyclone underflow, it is screen-
ed. In the case of a weighted mud, a screen
with a hole size of 74 to 100 microns is
used to allow the passage of the barite as
well as the liquid. In the case of an un-
weighted mud with an expensive liquid phase,
a finer screen may be used. It should be
realized that in both cases some of the finer
drill solids that were "desilted" out of the
mud pass through the screen and back into
the active system. The inability to remove
these solids; however, is usually a very
small penalty when the alternatives are
considered:
1. No equipment at all to remove
this size solid
2. Loss of a significant amount
of barite and liquid
The following slide will show a mud cleaner
used today.
After being processed by a shale shaker
and mud cleaner, both of which are operating
properly, the majority of all drilling muds
will be relatively clean. In the case of
a well where,
1. Formation being drilled is very
hard
2. Diamond bits are being used
3. Mud has been poorly maintained
and/or has been in the system
for 2-3 months or longer
4. Used mud has been brought to the
location
5. Existing solids control equipment
has been poorly maintained, not
properly operated, or not operated
full time
it may be necessary to use a centrifuge to
remove the fines (solids 3-5 microns and
smaller). These fines were either generated
at the bit and dispersed throughout the mud
as it flowed up the well bore or through the
grinding of larger solids that were not re-
moved earlier in the well. If a centrifuge
does not correct the problem, the other
available alternatives are:
1. Desilt the mud for one circulation
to selectively remove all solids
in a certain size range
2. Jet whole mud
3. Dilute existing mud
112 SOLIDS (,ONTROT, II A nRTT.LTN(; FLInn
The following slide will show a centrifuge
used on drilling rigs today.
The ideal rig-up of the solids contrbl
equipment discussed is shown in Figure 2.
Note that the larger solids are removed first
and that each piece of equipment completely
processes all of the mud before it is allowed
to flow downstream. No mud should bypass any
of the equipment.
C;PF7011
trolling them when the mud reaches the sur-
face system.
REFERENCES
1. Robinson, L. H. and Heilhecker, J.K.:
"Solids Control in a Weighted Drilling
Fluid", Society of Petroleum Engineers
of AIME, 48th Annual Meeting Las Vegas,
Nev., September 30 - October 3, 1973.

The following slides take n in several 2. Brandt, Louis K.: "Remarks on Fine
different parts of the country are indicative Screen Shakers", International Assoc-
of the real presence of drill solids in drill- iation of Drilling Contractors, 1973
ing muds. They are supposed to be in the mud Rotary Drilling Conference, Houston,
if you are making any hole, they are all Texas, February 28 - March 2, 1973.
sizes, and we have excellent methods of con-

CENTRIFUGE
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SIZE OF SOLIDS IN MICRONS

Fig. 1 - Effectiveness of separation equipment in th2 removal of sohds

from a drilling fluid.

, ADDITION
~
RE~~::~ ~
I
SAND
TRAP Degasser
Suction
UNDER
SCREENS ~ STIR STIR ~STIR
NOT fl ow abl e
STIRRED

SLO PING
BOTTOMS

Fig. 2 - Ideal arrangement of solids control equipment.