Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a widely used trenchless construction method for installing underground pipelines, cables, and utilities with minimal disturbance to the surface. This technology is especially advantageous in urban areas, river crossings, road crossings, and environmentally sensitive zones. During HDD operations, drilling mud plays a critical role by lubricating the drill bit, stabilizing the borehole, suspending and transporting drilled cuttings, and maintaining overall drilling efficiency. Effective management and recycling of drilling mud are therefore essential to ensure safe, economical, and environmentally responsible HDD operations.
An HDD mud recycling system significantly enhances operational efficiency and sustainability by continuously cleaning and reusing drilling fluid. Through a combination of solids control separation equipment—such as shale shakers, desanders, desilters, mud cleaners, and mud tanks—the system removes drilled solids of various particle sizes while maintaining optimal mud properties, including viscosity and density. This process reduces fresh water and chemical consumption, minimizes waste disposal volumes, lowers overall project costs, and helps prevent environmental contamination. As a result, a reliable mud recycling system is a critical component of modern HDD projects.
GN Solids Control is capable of designing, manufacturing, and supplying drilling mud cleaning and recycling systems in various sizes and configurations to suit HDD and other trenchless applications. The systems are engineered to meet different flow rate requirements, geological conditions, and local environmental regulations, while ensuring high separation efficiency and operational reliability.
Recently, GN Solids Control delivered two (2) sets of customized no-dig mud cleaning systems for an Australian client. Each system is designed with a handling capacity of 1000 GPM (approximately 240 m³/h), suitable for large-diameter and long-distance HDD projects. The systems are equipped with the following major separation and support equipment:
Two (2) sets of double-deck shale shakers, providing high fluid handling capacity and efficient coarse solids removal.
Two (2) units of 10-inch desander cone assemblies mounted on top of the shale shakers, designed for solids separation with a cut point of approximately 47 microns.
Ten (10) units of 4-inch desilter cone assemblies installed on the second double-deck shale shaker for fine solids separation with a cut point of approximately 27 microns.
Two (2) centrifugal feed pumps to supply slurry to the desander and desilter units.
One (1) centrifugal mixing pump with a 6-inch mixing hopper for preparing fresh, qualified drilling mud.
Complete auxiliary equipment including mud agitators, mud guns, an 11.5 m³ mud tank, and an integrated electrical control system for centralized operation.
This customized HDD mud recycling system ensures efficient solids removal, stable mud performance, reduced environmental impact, and reliable operation throughout the drilling process.