How to Properly Operate Mud Tanks

Properly operated mud tanks something that comes with experience. This experience comes from a number of hours of on-the-job training from a confident trainer. The idea of mud tanks is to be able to contain maintain and reuse. The drilling fluid in a cost-effective fabricated matter to this day. There are a lot of operations which opt for the use of sums to contain their drilling float drawing months. These days are an ever-changing technology each mud company spends millions developing their own versions of generic mud types. Due to the high costs of drilling months and additives oil companies want to maintain the least amount of mud as possible.

In order to get the job done the idea is that junk fluid would be stored in an area where the rig mud pump would have a readily available fluid to cool the drill bit, and remove drill cuttings from the hole. While providing stability to the formations that are drilled and to hold back any formation pressures.

The Drilling fluid is taken from the mud tank by a precharge pump. So the ring pump will have continuous volume from there it is pumped through the drill pipe and of the jets in the drill bit, and back up outside of the drill pipe carrying with it the drill cuttings.

Once it reaches surface, it will flow up through a bop or diverter, and flow line and back to the shale shakers where the large cuttings will be removed by different sized mesh screens. The solids go into a bin to be removed by a wheel loader or work into a sub the fluid passes through the mesh screens, and goes back into the mud tanks. And flows through the mud tanks back to the suction tank or the precharge pump sends it back to the root pump.

This is a closed loop system. Once the fluid passes through the mesh screens, it uses the enters into a sand trap which catches all of the large particles, and the fluid flows over the top of the compartment, and enters the shaker tank. This is using the tank right below the shakers. There will be some sort of agitation in this tank, usually just a mud gun which is a nozzle that has mud forced through it. So that it has a lot of pressure this jet is usually on the bottom of the tank. So that it can stir or agitate the fluid. There is also a way for the fluid to bypass through the tank into a settlement tank.

Usually you want the least amount of agitation in the shaker tank. Because you want the larger particles to settle out before they reach the suction tank. The skimmer is usually raised up quite high in this tank to allow the greatest amount. Protocol’s to settle out the sibling tank is the next tank in the system, and will have an mud agitator and a mud gun in it.

An mud agitator is a large object like fan which is attached to a long shaft connected to a motor on the top of the mud tank. The idea of the mud agitator is to lift the fluid from the bottom of the tank and to help roll or mix it to make it consistent on smaller rings of settling compartment.

We’ll also have a de-gas ring which is use a separate gas from the drilling fluid. So that the gas can be burned off for you to a flipping. It is possible to have a number of settling tanks on bickerings. The suction tank is a tank which has the ability for the rig pump to suck out of it. Tanks fluid goes directly down a hole depending on what products you are mixing.

You may want to mix them right into this tank. So they go straight down hole. Sometimes you may want to mix the product in the tank just before the suction tank to allow it. Time to blend and be more consistent the answer water and mud guns should be running in this tank at all times as a fluid goes from tank the tank. The level of volume should get lower and lower. This is an indication that you have skimmers set from is the lowest to allow the solids to settle out whenever using a center feature.

However you want to suck out of the sand trap or the shaker tank and discharged into the settling tank or the suction tank doing this may cause the fluid to flow backwards through the mud tanks. This means that the decanter centrifuge is out pumping the rig pump you may want to blend. The later mud from the center feeds overflow into the settling tank this may prevent pumping light mud down hole which could induce a mud cake. We highly recommend that you do not open the bypass on the shale shakers. This will allow the solids to bypass shale shakers and go directly into the mud tanks.

There are cases however where you may want to reuse LCM product etc., and the only way to do this is to open the bypass. We do recommend that you use a vacuum to suck up the solids from the possibility of the shale shaker or discharge them into the sand trap. If you are not sucking out of there with the center feed the shrimp articles from inside of the possum belly will get caught into the feed pumps. Green box which will affect the performance of the centrifuge and may be available service call. If we have to come out to clean it up. It’s always a good practice to suck out up a different tank that you are overflowing into with the centrifuge. As the pump will always suck the lightest fluid first. This will affect the cut point of the centrifuge, and the centrifuge will miss a majority of the fluid passing through the mud tanks.