Screw conveyor is the most popular transfer equipment to collect drill cuttings from solids control shale shaker, mud cleaner, and feed to vertical cuttings dryer. While using screw conveyor auger to feed for vertical cuttings dryer, normally at least 2 screw conveyor augers will be used.

Firstly, there will be a screw conveyor located in horizontal to collect drill cuttings from solids control mud system separation equipment, mostly, from shale shaker, desander, desilter and mud cleaner. After the horizontal screw conveyor, a second screw conveyor will be located inclined to transfer drilling cuttings from the horizontal screw conveyor and feed to the top feeding hopper on the top of vertical cuttings dryer.

Besides screw conveyor, Drilling cuttings transfer pump is another popular feeding device for vertical drilling cuttings dryer. Drilling cuttings transfer pump collect drill cuttings to its tank hopper, and use hydraulic power to push the drill cuttings to separation equipment, like vertical cuttings dryer, or to waste pits. But Drilling cuttings transfer pump is not self-suction pump. It can only collect drilling cuttings which can fall down into the holding tank. It cannot suction drill cuttings from waste pits.

Vacuum sludge transfer pump is another transfer pump which can feed for vertical cuttings dryer. It is a 100% air driven pump, need big air consumption. And it is a self-suction pump. Vacuum sludge transfer pump can transfer mud from solids control system, or suction material from waste pits and feed to separation equipment.

GN Solids Control can make screw conveyor, drill cuttings transfer pump, vacuum sludge pump, and vertical cuttings dryer to treat drill cuttings. Besides these equipment, GN Solids Control is capable to make other waste management equipment, like decanter centrifuge, big bowl centrifuge, high G drying shale shaker, solidification unit, dewatering unit, oil water separator, oil sludge separation system, etc…

Mud cleaner is a basic drilling mud separation equipment for various drilling activites. It is used after solids control shale shaker. Last week, Some sets of mud cleaner are ready for delivery from GN Solids Control Beijing factory.

The mud cleaners are specially designed for offshore rigs. Compared with normal onshore mud cleaner, the offshore mud cleaner with special design to suit for DNV2.1-1 lifting standard to meet offshore requestment.

Mud cleaner utilizes desander and desilter hydro cyclones to separation a certain sizes of solids phase. It is a combination of shale shaker, desander and desilter. The most popular desander cyclone is 10 inch. The 10 inch desander cone can remove particles above 47 microns. The most popular desilter cone is 4 inch. The 4 inch cone can separate solids to 27 microns. In some cases 12 inch desanter cone and 5 inch desilter cone may be used, but very few.

The hydro cyclones incorporate a precise combination of proportions, angles, ratios, and materials to optimize separation of solids from the feed material. In normal operation, feed slurry is introduced tangentially into the interior of the hydro cyclone at high velocity causing a whirlpool effect to occur inside the cone. The swirling motion of the slurry drives the larger, denser particles outward against the cone wall while the smaller, lighter particles move toward the center of the cone.

The low-pressure vortex at the center of the cone pulls in the excess liquid and small particles, as well as drawing in air through the apex at the lower discharge end of the cone. The high-velocity air stream aids the upward flow of liquid and small particles toward the cone’s upper discharge, while the spiraling stream of liquid and larger particles flows downward along the cone wall toward the lower discharge. Large solids leaving the lower discharge may be further processed for removal of remaining small particles and liquid, while the upper discharge from the hydrocyclone is often routed to desilters having 4-inch hydrocyclones for removal of finer particles.

Besides mud cleaner, GN Solids Control is capacity to make shale shaker, decanter centrifuge, mixing system, cuttings skips and other separation equipment with DNV2.7-1 lifting certificate for offshore rigs.

The mud agitator is high-efficiency mud-mixing units offered in a wide array of custom sizes and configurations to accommodate virtually any mud tank. Both horizontal and vertical drive mud agitators are available for all sizes of mud tanks.

The horizontal drive mud agitator is designed for installations having limited space above the mud tank, like drilling mud solids control system mud tanks, desanding plant mud tanks, mud recycling system mud tanks, etc…. The vertical drive agitator employs an all helical gearing system, and the horizontal drive agitator utilizes a helical-bevel system to drive the agitator shaft, which may have one or two straight or canted mixing impeller(s). Canted mixing impeller is more popular.

Mud agitator design should be based on tank dimension, inner depth and mud condition. GN horizontal mud agitators utilize helical bevel reducer. Clients can also choose worm and gear reduce for saving the cost.

If tank inner height is more than 1500mm, a tank bottom shaft stabilizer is recommended to support the lower end of the shaft. But anyway, GN Solids Control equips tank bottom stabilizer for all sizes mud agitators.

GN mud agitator is composed of explosion-proof motor, coupling with star elastic coupling, helical bevel reducer, impeller, mounting plate, and rigid coupling, etc…. Explosion-proof motor and reducer are installed on the mounting plate. Explosion-proof motor shaft and reducer input shaft is connected by elastic coupling. Agitator shaft and reducer output shaft are connected by rigid coupling.

When the explosion-proof motor is running, the reducer input shaft is driven to rotate through the elastic coupling, the reducer output head drives the agitator shaft to rotate through the rigid coupling, and the agitator shaft and the impeller are connected by bolts for transmission.

When the blade of the impeller impinges on the drilling fluid, it is forced to produce a vortex motion, thereby preventing the solid particles of the drilling mud from settling, and achieving the effect of uniform mixing of solid and liquid phases and uniform density. The connecting disc sandwiched in the middle of the blade can prevent the solid particles of the mud from depositing at the lower part of the impeller after shutdown, thus reducing the resistance of the solid phase material to the blade when restarting, and avoiding the accident of burning the motor due to starting overload.

GN Solids Control mud agitator is designed for stirring drilling mud and slurries in an open tank. GN Solids Control makes vertical mud agitator and horizontal mud agitator for various kinds of mud tank, especially used for drilling mud solids control system.

The main function of mud agitator used in a drilling mud solids control equipment is to stirring drilling mud, to prevent drilling fluids from settle down. In this case, the solids and liquid phase of drilling fluids can be mixed equally, the viscosity and density are qualified to meet the standard of drilling activity.

After ensure the drilling mud qualified, pumps can be used to pump drilling mud from one tank to separation equipment, like feed to shale shaker, mud cleaner, desander, desilter, degasser, decanter centrifuge, or other processing equipment. Mud agitator is also used in drilling mud mixing system.

GN mud agitator utilizes heavy duty Helical Bevel reducer. Compared with normal design worn and gearbox agitator, it has the following characteristics:

A) The helical gear reducer has the advantages of compact structure, good meshing performance and reliable operation.
B) The helical gear reducer runs smoothly and has low noise.
C) The gear surface of the helical gear reducer has a large coincidence degree, which reduces the load of each pair of gears and improves the loading capacity of the gears.
D) The helical gear reducer and explosion-proof motor are suitable to work under harsh conditions in the field.
E) The explosion-proof motor is directly connected to the input shaft of the reducer through an elastic coupling instead of a belt drive, so the speed of the agitator impeller is constant.
F) The stirring intensity is large, the spread range is wide, and the structural design can prevent the motor from current overload during starting.
G) The explosion-proof is replaced horizontally, which is convenient for to be placed, installed, or replaced.

GN Solids Control makes whole solution for Oil sludge and contaminated soil processing.

Their first inquire is Soil Washing System, the general information of the soil washing processing system is as below:

1) The clients are planning to have a contaminated soil washing system at their yard site to treat the contaminated soil with actual treatment of 15 tons per hour (treatment capacity of the contaminated soil). Whereas up to 20 % of the said material is contaminated silt. TPH on soil input is about 7% average.

The clients inquired GN Solids Control in order to know what does GN Solids Control have as latest separation equipment for treating oil sludge and contaminated soil with silt, and the clients want to know what kinds of washing equipment with disilter treatment.
In addition to the contaminated soil / mud pumps for 15 tons/hr capacity. And the sludge as per the contract is fresh sludge (recently generated) and should be pumpable.

The clients also want to know GN Solids Control the latest design for vertical contaminated soil washing tanks.

Major separation equipment of soil washing system is coarse separation shale shaker, normal API screen shale shaker, hydra cyclone separator, decanter centrifuge, agitators, various pumps, etc …

The 2nd request of the clients is to ask for Treatment of Recovered oil from Sludge Treatment:
The clients are in need for chemical injection pump / dozer (ppm) for dewatering treatment. The recovered oil content is Heavy oil with water with silt that should be separated. The recovered water will be reused in the system for washing, and for dilution. The clients want to know What equipment does GN Solids Control have to do this mechanical separation

Major processing equipment to treat Recovered oil from Sludge Treatment is high speed centrifuge, 3-phase decanter centrifuge, dewatering unit, inclined plate clarifier, oil water separator, etc…

GN Solids Control offer turn-key solution for Soil Washing, 3-phase separation system, and dewatering treatment system.

FHD decanter centrifuge is precision separation decanter centrifuge with high speed rotating up to 3600RPM. As there are logical protection on the control panel for the FHD decanter centrifuge, operators are requested to start and stop the centrifuge accordance with the right Operation procedures.

Below are the procedures to start the FHD centrifuge. It is different with VFD centrifuge operation procedures.

1. Connect the main power supply to the FHD centrifuge control panel.

2. Turn the bowl speed adjustment handle and gearbox speed adjustment handle on the hydraulic control panel clockwise to close it. And then rotate the gearbox speed adjustment handle counterclockwise to open it at around 1/3 stroke position. Turn on the main power switch and power control switch, make sure that the emergency stop button is in the reset state.

3. Turn on the conveyor start switch on the electrical control panel, rotate the conveyor speed adjustment handle counterclockwise, observe the conveyor flow meter on the hydraulic control panel, and observe the conveyor speed on the control panel to adjust the conveyor speed to the demanded work Value.

4. Turn on the bowl start switch on the electrical control panel, then rotate the bowl speed control handle on the hydraulic control panel, observe the bowl flowmeter on the hydraulic control panel, and observe the bowl speed on the electrical control box to adjust the bowl speed to the value needed for actual work.

5. Start the feed screw pump motor until it runs normally.

6. Gradually open the feed valve to achieve the required processing capacity (do not suddenly open the feed valve).

Operators should follow below procedures to shut down the FHD decanter centrifuge and its feeding screw pump:

1. Stop the feeding pump and close the feeding pipe valves.

2. Open the flush valve and let the centrifuge continue to run for 5-10 minutes. Observe the liquid outlet. When the outlet liquid is clear and the solids discharge port no longer discharges solids, close the cleaning valve to finish the flush.

3. Stop the bowl.

The bowl can be stopped only after the feed pump is stopped for 200s.

4. Stop the conveyor.

The conveyor can be stopped after the bowl is stopped for 20s.

5. Disconnect the pre-stage power.

Russia is a major oil producing country. Weeks ago, 6 sets GNLW363C-GP high speed decanter centrifuge were delivered to a major mud service company in Russia. The Russian service company is also an importance partner of GN Solids Control. They are cooperated with GN Solids Control over 7 years in Russia and nearby countries.

The 6 sets high speed decanter centrifuge model is GNLW363C-GP, with customized color , logo and nameplate for the client.

GNLW363C series decanter centrifuge is the most popular size centrifuge with 14 inch diameter bowl. It is suitable for high-speed dewatering separation of drilling mud and construction mud. GN Solids Control GNLW363C series decanter centrifuge is designed for max. water treatment capacity 45m3 / h and an effective processing capacity of 30m3 / h.

The design maximum speed is 3900RPM. GN Solids Control can offer 3 kinds of control for the 14 inch decanter centrifuge, which can meet most clients applications:

1) The most popular control type is fixed speed control for the 14 inch decanter centrifuge. Its model code is GNLW363C-GP. The Fixed speed decanter centrifuge is relative easies for operation and maintenance.

2) The 2nd type is variable frequency drive (VFD) control. Its model code is GNLW363C-VFD. The VFD centrifuge is complex than fixed speed centrifuge. But the max. speed can up to 3600RPM in specially request by clients.

3) The 3rd type is Full hydraulic drive (FHD) control. As the Full hydraulic drive system is imported from Europe, FHD centrifuge price is much higher than VFD and fixed speed control decanter centrifuge.

At the normal working speed setup before delivery is 3200RPM, the centrifuge maximum separation factor is 3063G, the conventional separation factor is 2062G, and the cut point (min. diameter of the separated particles) is 2-5μm. The differential torque is 3500N.M, the main motor power is 37KW, and the auxiliary motor power is 11KW.

Last week, GN Solids Control finish the production of a full package of Pitless Drilling Waste Management Equipment. The Drilling Waste Management Equipment will be shipped to an International Oilfied Service Company for pitless treatment.

The Pitless Drilling Waste Management Equipment including below processing equipment:

1) Firstly, there is a coarse separation shale shaker which will be mounted with coarse separation shaker screens with bigger opening to remove the big size solids in the waste material. There are nozzle for sprays to heat the material in order to reduce the viscosity and density of the waste material especially for oil sludge by heating. Furthermore, as the hazardous material is mostly harm to human health, there are protective covers on top of the shale shaker to avoid drilling mud or the waste material spatter during heating.

2) After the coarse separation shale shaker, a second shale shaker will be used with normal size API shale shaker screen to remove particles by API screens.

3) As the project is treat oil base mud and oil base cuttings, vertical cuttings dryer is used in the system to reduce the oil on the cuttings. After the vertical cuttings dryer separation, the oil content on the cuttings can be reduced to 3% ~ 5%. As the opening of screen basket for vertical cuttings dryer is between 0.3mm to 0.5mm normally, the drilling mud recovered from vertical cuttings dryer is heavy in weight, which cannot be used in drilling mud system directly. In this case, the drilling mud will be feed to high speed decanter centrifuge to reduce the mud weight.

4) There are some sets of Solids and sludge vacuum pump in the pitless treatment system. The function of solids and sludge vacuum pump is to replace screw conveyors. The solids and sludge vacuum pump can be used to collect drilling cuttings from solids control system, and transfer to drilling cutting treatment equipment, like feed to coarse shale shaker, API shale shaker, and vertical cutting dryer.

Although the COVID-19 virus attack the world, changed our life style, caused much uncertain troubles. Global crude oil price which recently has collapsed impact the oil industry and all petro-chemical related companies. We are experiencing a challenging situation which is affecting all the Oil & Gas industry as well as non-oil industries. We all navigate through these uncertain times. we have to keep positive and keep moving, to ensure life continuity.

GN Solids Control does all the best to protect all employees to stay safe and healthy, and to resume manufacturing orderly, to minimize the negative effect to client.

Last week, a package of Slurry dewatering decanter centrifuge unit is under assembly and commissioning. The slurry dewatering centrifuge will be used for TBM project to Singapore client. The slurry dewatering system is to recover waste water from TBM drilling. As Singapore has higher standard for industry waste water discharging. Besides a normal 1000GPM desanding plants for slurry separation, a dewatering decanter centrifuge unit is used for the system. The dewater decanter centrifuge will be used after 1000 GPM desanding plant, to purify the water recovered from the desanding plant.

The 1000GPM desanding plant is a compact design separation unit. It is combined with below items:

A desander cleaner with 2 Nos. of 10 inch desander cone, which is mounted on top of a shale shaker. It is the separation unit in the system.

A centrifugal pump is mounted on the tank slop for feeding to desander.

A foldable light is mounted on the top of the tank.

A electrical control panel is used for control all items inside the system.

All above items are fixed on a small tank. Foldable ladders and walkways are equipment for easy operation and easy shipment.

The dewater unit is fixed into a fabricated container. The container is for protection and also for easy shipment and operation.

A 14 inch high speed decanter centrifuge is fixed on a telescopic skid. There is a small transfer tank underneath the decanter centrifuge. The skid can be felt down during shipment for loading into container, and be lift up to a certain height, in this case, the recovered liquid from centrifuge can be discharged to other tanks by gravity, rather than by a separate feeding pump.

A full package of mud cleaning system is under assembly at GN Solids Control Beijing factory. The system will be dispatched to a China domestic company to service their Coal bed methane drilling rigs.

It is a full package Mud Cleaning System for Coal bed methane drilling company (CBM Drilling), including all processing equipment, mud mixing equipment, mud tanks, electrical control panels, all necessary fittings and connecting accessories inside the system.

Shale shaker is necessary solids control equipment for drilling mud treatment system. It is the 1rst stage separation to remove big size solids. 2 sets of shale shaker are included in the drilling mud cleaning system for Coal bed methane drilling. The 2 shale shakers are connected by mud distribution box to control the mud flow to each shaker.

After solids control shale shakers, a desander separator and a desilter separator are equipped as the 2^nd and the 3^rd stage solids control separation. The 10’’ desander separator is used to remove solids above 47 microns. The 4’’ desilter separation is used to remove solids above 27 microns.

Normally, centrifugal pump is used as feeding pump for desander cleaner and desilter separation. And in this case, the centrifugal feeding pump should be allocated in the tank slope, or on the tank skid. It will reduce the tank usable capacity. In the mud cleaning system for coal bed methane, GN Solids Control does utilize submersible slurry pump to feed for desander separator and desilter separator. In this case, the slurry feeding pump is mounted on the top of the tank with small footprint. It can optimize the tank usable capacity.

On each tank capacity, mud agitator is used to avoid mud settle down. Besides mud agitator, High position butterfly valves are fixed to control the mud flow between each tank compartment.

Mud mixing hopper and centrifugal mixing pump are used as mixing system. A full package of electrical control system are offered for all items inside the mud cleaning system in order to offer turnkey solution to clients.