NOEX® Oil Drilling Cuttings Pump

The NOEX® Cuttings Pump & Tank requires less manpower and vastly improves safety for on-site personnel. In addition, the NOEX® System provides a 5-fold increase to production rates in the removal and transportation of mud, cuttings and drilling fluids when compared to excavators.

Each NOEX® Tank is equipped with a redundant motor and pump, allowing for 100% uptime. Optional recirculation and water jet options can be added to keep the material constantly agitated, making it easier to pump. The NOEX® Pumps can be mounted outside of the tank as a flooded suction or can be fully submerged in the cuttings tank.

EDDY Pump technology harnesses the power of a tornado into fluid dynamics, creating a synchronized eddy current. This allows the EDDY Pump to handle high concentration of abrasive slurries with less downtime, clogging and spare part costs.

Solids Control Equipment Used in Drilling Operations

Solids control equipment including shakers, hydro-cyclones, and centrifuges are utilized to clean the drill cuttings from the drilling fluid, which then allows it to be reused and recirculated. The circuit includes the mixing of the drilling fluid in the rig tanks.

The drilling fluid is prepared to control fluid loss to the formation by the addition of chemicals or mineral agents. Commercial barite or other weighting agents are added to control the hydrostatic pressure exuded on the bottom of the well which controls formation pressures preventing fluid or gas intrusion into the wellbore.

The fluid is charged into high-pressure mud pumps which pump the drilling mud down the drill string and out through the bit nozzles cleaning the hole and lubricating the drill bit so the bit can cut efficiently through the formation. The bit is cooled by the fluid and moves up the space between the pipe and the hole which is called the annulus. The fluid imparts a thin, tough layer on the inside of the hole to protect against fluid loss which can cause differential sticking.

The fluid rises through the blowout preventers and down the flowline to the shale shakers. Shale shakers are equipped with fine screens that separate drill cutting particles as fine as 50-74 microns. Table salt is around 100 microns, so these are fine cuttings that are deposited into the half-round or cuttings catch tank. The drilling fluid is further cleaned with the hydro-cyclones and centrifuges and is pumped back to the mixing area of the mud tanks where the process repeats.

The drill cuttings contain a layer of drilling fluid on the surface of the cuttings. As the size of the drill cuttings gets smaller the surface area expands exponentially which can cause rheological property problems with the fluid. The fluid will dehydrate and may become too thick or viscous to pump so solids control and dilution are important to the entire drilling process.