Vertical Cuttings Dryer System can Catch any Lost and Returns Drilling Cuttings

The vertical cuttings dryer is a machine designed to reduce the operator’s total fluids cost and limit waste disposal volumes. This is achieved by directly recovering the fluids from the cuttings, and by recovering any weighted mud from the shaker screens avoiding that it can be lost due to a failure of the shaker, a movement of the rig or the occlusion of the screen. The machine helps meet certain fluid-on-cuttings discharge requirements that must be abided by.

The vertical centrifuge system catches any lost mud and returns it to the active mud system. The recovery systems work well with diesel, mineral and synthetic oil based mud. The system has proven to be more efficient with synthetic systems due to the ease of oil separation from larger cuttings. Synthetic systems also have a higher mud value, which makes the machine more attractive from an economical point of view. In addition, the system reduces the amount of wastes at the rig site and the resulting disposal costs.

The initial processing is done with a VERTI-G dryer that utilizes centrifugal force to take advantage of their differing densities to separate the largest portion of the remaining drilling fluid from the cuttings. The processed cuttings are discharged from the vortex dryer into the adjacent shale bin, and then have an average ROC between 4% and 7% once processing is complete. This ROC percentage represents cuttings suitable for immediate disposal requiring minimal if any further stabilization. Processed waste material is lighter, less toxic and is a more cost-efficiency.