Desanders and desilters are solid control equipment with a set of

hydrocyclone Hydrocyclones are a type of cyclonic separators that separate product phases mainly on basis of differences in gravity with aqueous solutions as the primary feed fluid. As opposed to dry or dust cyclones, which separate solids from gasses, hydrocy ...

s that separate

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

and

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

from the

drilling fluids In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are also us ...

drilling rigs A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wat ...

. Desanders are installed on top of the mud tank following the

shale shaker Shale shakers are components of drilling equipment used in many industries, such as coal cleaning, mining, oil and gas drilling.They are the first phase of a solids control system on a drilling rig, and are used to remove large solids ( cutting ...

and the

degasser A degasser is a device used in the upstream oil industry to remove dissolved and entrained gases from a liquid. In drilling it is used to remove gasses from drilling fluid which could otherwise form bubbles. In a produced water treatment plant it i ...

, but before the desilter. Desander removes the abrasive solids from the

which cannot be removed by shakers. Normally the solids diameter for desander to be separated would be 45~74μm, and 15~44μm for desilter. A centrifugal pump is used to pump the

from mud tank into the set of

Solids control

Desanders have no moving parts. The larger the internal diameter of the desander is, the greater the amount of drilling fluids it is able to process and the larger the size of the solids removed. A desander with a ( cone) is able to remove 50% of solids within the 40-50 μm (micrometre) range at a flow rate of , whilea desilter ( Cone) is able to remove 50% of solids within the 15-20 μm range at a flow rate of . Micro-fine separators are able to remove 50% of solids within the 10-15 μm range at a flow rate of . A desander is typically positioned next-to-last in the arrangement of

solids control Solids control is a process used in drilling rigs which use drilling fluid. It involves separating the "cuttings" (drilled material) from the fluid, allowing it to be recirculated or discharged to the environment. Background Drilling rigs are dr ...

equipment, with a desander

centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or ...

as the subsequent processing unit. Desanders are preceded by gas busters, gumbo removal equipment (if utilized),

mud cleaner A mud cleaner is a combination of desanders and/or wiktionary:desilter, desilters to remove drilled solids from mud. History Although US Patent No.3,766,997 covering Mud Cleaner was issued on October 23, 1973 granted to J.K. Heilhecker and L.H ...

(if utilized) and a vacuum degasser. Desanders are widely used in oilfield drilling. Practice has proved that

desanders are economic and effective equipment.

References

Oilfield terminology Drilling technology Petroleum engineering {{Petroleum-stub

Solids control

See also

References