Cuttings dryers are sometimes referred to as secondary drying of cuttings.Cuttings dryer is the most widely used technology for safely handling drilling waste. Drilled cuttings with associated fluid from the rig solids-control equipment have been passed over a second drying shaker for a number of years. The recovery of oil-based drilling fluid coupled with a 10 – 25% reduction in disposal volume is usually easily justified and has become standard procedure in areas where so-called pitless drilling or closed loop systems are the norm. Generally, the secondary drying shaker is a four-panel screening device running at 7.0 – 7.3 G’s at the screen surface. Drilled cuttings from a drying shaker typically test between 8 and 12% base oil (NAF) by wet weight. This retention-oncuttings (ROC) figure is significantly higher than the current minimum allowed for offshore discharge in the United States and, increasingly, elsewhere around the world. Accordingly, there has been increased interest in lowering the ROC figure by the use of different types of drying equipment.
Continue reading “Cuttings Dryers”
