Drilling mud system

The ViST screen shale shaker is a vacuum screen shale shaker utilizing vacuum power. GN Solids Control specially designed it to treat drilling mud in oil and gas drilling. It is work together to recycle the drilling fluids and reduce the drilling waste.

GN Solids Control started to developing the Vacuum Screen Technology since 2017 and owned many pending patent design on it. With the feedback from different jobsites, GN Solids Control keeps updrading its design to make it mode it more stable, less maitenance, and more user friendly. Through the years’ running, GN Solids Control Vacuum Screen Technology proved to be very efficient for recycling drilling fluids.

Based on GN Solids Control standard shale shaker, there is a catch pan installed under the discharge side of the shaker deck. There is a suction pipe with a rubber hose connected to the bottom of the catch pan for collecting the recycled drilling mud. As the sucktion pipe and rubber hose to the catch pan is short in length, GN Solids Control offers extension suction pipe to connecting the shale shaker to the vacuum unit. After that, there are discharge hose from vacuum unit to mud tanks.

And GN Solids Control screen vacuum unit is driven by air, the will be air hose from air compressor or other air suppliers, and feed air for the vacuum screen unit. The compressed air from air compressor or the rig air supply is required to create suction on the last screen surface, pulling additional fluid off the cuttings. It can reduce the liquid on the cuttings by 30-50%.

There must be a set of catch pan with its suction pipe, suction rubber hose and extension rubber hose for connecting to the vacuum unit. If the vacuum screen unit is connecting to 2 shakers or 3 shakers, there must be 2 packages or 3 packages of catch pan with its hoses. One vacuum screen unit only need a rubber hose with its extend discharge hose to mud tanks. And with an air hose to the air compressor or to the rig air supplier.

Solids Control shale shaker is the 1rst stage separation equipment in drilling mud system. GN Solids Control just finished 2 sets of triple shale shaker unit for a drilling company in China.

The features of GN Solids Control triple shale shaker unit:


1. There are 3 shale shakers are mounted on a general skid. It is easy and fast for movement and shipment. And clients are easier to install it at drilling mud system. They only need to move and install the triple shaker one time, but not 3 shakers for 3 times.

2. The 3 shale shaker are connected by pipelines for feeding and discharge. And there are valves on the feeding and discharge pipelines. By open and close the valves, the 3 shale shakers can work together as a full function unit, or work separately based on the job site situation.

3. Unlike other suppliers’ shale shaker, GN Solids Control shale shaker can be equipped with a separate vacuum screen unit. One GN Solids Control brand vacuum unit can be connected to 1 or 3 shakers.

The shale shaker can also be used together with hydro cyclone unit to work as desander or desilter mud cleaner.
10 inch and 12 inch cones are commonly used to separate the particle size of drilling fluid from 44 to 74 μm solid particles. The combination of hydrocyclones below 6 inch is called desilter, which is the third phase solid control equipment in drilling operations. 5 inch and 4 inch cones are commonly used to separate the particle size of drilling fluid from 15 to 44 μm solid particles.

According to the size of the handling capacity required, the customer can select several groups of hydrocyclones to form a desander or desilter.

GN Solids Control desander and desilter mud cleaner is widely used for desanding and separation of oil drilling and horizontal directional drilling.

GN Solids Control can design and make various type of mud cleaning system to suit for various applications.

Drilling mud solids control system for Oil and gas drilling is the multi-tank mud system, like Silting mud tank ( Shaker Tanks), Active Mud Tank, Suction Mud Tank, Mixing Mud Tank, Storage Mud Tank. GN Solids Control can offer complete turn key solution. Drilling mud solids control system is also called solids control system, or mud circulation system for the oil gas drilling rigs. GN Solids Control makes oil drilling mud system available for different oil drilling rig sizes from small rig 250HP to deep drilling rigs up to 3000 HP with various capacity.

GN Solids Control can design and manufacture hydrovac slurry processing system, which is also called as Slurry Dewatering System, in some countries, like in U.S.A, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, it can also called as hydrovac slurry waste treatment or waste slurry management system.

GN Solids Control can design and manufacture Mud Recycling System for water well drilling, Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) and CBM drilling rig.

GN Solids Control is a top manufacturer of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) Mud Equipment / HDD Mud Recycling System. GN Solids Control drilling mud recycling system has been applied in many countries for HDD and CBM drilling operation. Especially popular in Singapore, Indonesia, India etc. GN Solids Control can offer Self-Contained Mud Recycling System with model as below: GNMS-200B for 200GPM capacity, GNMS-400B for 400GPM capacity, GNMS-600B for 600GPM capacity, GNMS-800B for 800GPM capacity.

GN Solids Control can design and manufacture efficient TBM slurry separation plant. It is the basis for the successful use of slurry-supported tunnel boring machines(TBM). GN Solids Control Slurry separation plant is popular for project of AVN Machines, Mix shields  or Shaft Sinking Machines . GN Solids Control use double deck shale shakers, desander desilter separators, as well as decanter centrifuges to separate and remove the excavated solids from the bentonite suspension.

According to the motor mounting type, there are 2 types of drilling mud agitators for mud system: Direct connection mud agitator and Coupling connection mud agitator.

Type 1: Direct connection mud agitator. The motor is mounted on a mounting plate with flange to gearbox reduce. It is the most popular type. The design is sample, but reliable. Most agitator supplier utilize direct motor connection design.

Type 2: Coupling connection mud agitator. The motor and connected to gearbox reduce via a coupling set. So the motor is not direct connected to the gearbox reducers.

The Coupling connection mud agitator has a coupling to protect the reducer and motor. In normal situation, clients only need to check and maintain the coupling set. However, there are additional wearing parts of the coupling. The disadvantage of the coupling agitator is that the coupling and its accessories need to be regularly checked on the drilling mud system. Once the coupling or accessories are damaged, they should be replaced in time, otherwise the motor and reducer will be damaged quickly.

The advantage of the direct agitator is that it is less maintenance as long as the gear oil is added. The disadvantage is that once damaged, either the reducer is damaged or the roller key of the motor shaft is damaged. It is difficult to repair. And the repair cost is high.

However, the probability of such a failure is very low and it belongs to an abnormal situation. According to the feedback records on the site, the damage probability of the agitator caused by not replacing the coupling parts in time is much higher than that of the direct connected agitator. Therefore, GN Solids Control recommended direct connect agitators. GN Solids Control standard agitator models are direct motor connection type. And most popular agitator brands provide direct connection agitator. They do not offer coupling connection agitators.

GN Solids Control makes linear motion or dual motion shale shaker for onshore and offshore drilling rigs. This week, GN Solids Control finished 2 shale shakers for an offshore drilling company.

The 2 shale shakers are the most popular models made by GN Solids Control GNZS594. It is a 4-panel single deck shale shaker. It can either make as linear motion or dual motions while apply various vibrating motors.

GN Solids Control shale shaker is equipped with heady duty design shaker deck. The whole shaker deck of GN Solids Control shale shaker is treated by heat treatment. It enable GN shale shakers to suit for G force up to 7.5 G. If for high G drying shaker model, the G force can up to 8.0G.

The shaker deck of GN shale shaker is sealed with patent design sealing rubbers to avoid fine solids bypass and to protection the shaker deck and shaker screens during vibrating. And the patent design shaker deck sealing rubber is easy for installation and replacement.

Another big advantage of GN Solids Control shale shaker is equipped with mechanical deck angle adjustable device. Operators can adjust shaker deck angle while the the shaker is running. They do not need to stop the shakers. And plus, the shaker deck adjustment device is GN Solids Control patent design technology. It is a Synchronous lifting system, it means the shaker users can change shaker deck at either side of the shaker deck, both side with change with the same angle.

And plus, GN Solids Control is also capable to make other separation equipment for offshore drilling, like mud cleaner, decanter centrifuge, degassers, etc…

Besides shale shaker for drilling rig mud system, GN Solids Control is also capacity to make high capacity dewatering vibrating screen shaker, Classification Vibrating Screen shaker and mining vibrating screen shakers with different capacity. For more details, please contact GN Solids Control system branch: GN Separation.

GN Solids Control Desanding unit provide economic solution to treat the dirty mud generated from trenchless projects, like Bored Piling Slurry desanding, TBM slurry treatment, HDD mud recycling, as well as water well drilling mud treatment, and so on.

This week, GN Solids Control finished 4 packages mud cleaning unit for an Asia client. The mud cleaning units will be used for desanding at trenchless and pipe jacking projects. There are 2 models included in the 4 packages mud cleaning unit.

There are 2 packages of GNMS-1500D desanding plan. The handling capacity of the GNMS-1500D unit is up to 1500GPM. The major separation equipment is double coarse shale shaker GNZS707, which is a double deck shale shaker for coarse solids separation. After pre-separation shale shaker, there are number 2 desander cone with size 16 inch for big flow mud treatment.

Another 2 packages desanding unit is smaller capacity, the model is GNMS-1000D. The handling capacity is 1000GPM. The pre-separation shale shaker model is GNZS705. After shale shaker, the desander cone size is 10 inch with quantity 2.

GN Solids Control utilize high quality PU material desander cones for longer lifetime. The separation shake screen is made by 100% PU or by steel with big opening. Clients choose the right screen opening to reach the separation result.

Besides the 1000GPM and 15000GPM mud desanding plant, GN Solids Control is capable to make other smaller size and bigger size mud recycling and desanding unit, it includes but not limited to below models:

Some small Desanding Plants designed and made by GN Solids Control:
Desanding Plant model GNMS-200D, the design Capacity is 200GPM, 50m³/h.
Desanding Plant model GNMS-500D, the design Capacity is 500GPM, 120m³/h.
Desanding Plant model GNMS-1000D, the design Capacity is 1000GPM, 240m³/h.

Some big Desanding Plants designed and made by GN Solids Control:
Desanding Plant model GNMS-360M, the design Capacity is 360 m³/h
Desanding Plant model GNMS-500M, the design Capacity is 5000 m³/h
Desanding Plant model GNMS-1000M, the design Capacity is 1000 m³/h
Desanding Plant model GNMS-2000M, the design Capacity is 2000 m³/h
Desanding Plant model GNMS-3000M, the design Capacity is 3000 m³/h

GN Solids America, which is located in Houston America, is a subsidiary of GN Solids Control. GN Solids Control is a professional manufacturer who is focusing on drilling mud solids control and drilling waste management. Its products covering oil and gas drilling, as well as non-oil drilling, such as water well drilling, horizontal directional drilling, piling, pipe jacking, and other trenchless activities.

GN Solids Control make various types of waste management equipment to treat the oily and non-oil slurry generated from drilling and construction field.

GN Solids America and GN Solids Control Successfully attended 2022  Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston is the largest exhibition in oil and gas field. It takes place every year in May, the same as this year. There are many visitors in oil field coming from middle east, Africa, South America, and other areas. As the effect of covina-virus, internal trip become very difficult. There are restrictions in many countries. OTC is a good chance to meet clients there.

GN Solids America has big warehouse in Houston. Clients can get standard equipment stock equipment and replacement spare parts in Houston warehouse. This yeas, GN Solids America team take below equipment for the exhibition.

1. Screen vacuum unit. The unit is fixed under shale shaker to further recover useful drilling fluids from the drilling cuttings. It is a 100% air driven unit. A GN screen vacuum unit can be connected to 1 or 3 shale shakers.

2. Sludge and solids vacuum pump. It is also a 100% air driven device. It is specially designed for long distance transfer on solids, powder and sludge.

Replacement screens for various brand and models shale shakers. GN Solids Control makes high quality composite frame pretension screens. GN Solids Control can even make customized screens per clients drawing, and packing.

A set of Construction Mud Solids Liquid Separation Equipment are ready for shipment. The construction slurry separation system are designed per client’s request to meet their applications.

Below are the major separation and processing equipment included in the treatment system:

1.Linear motion dewatering shale shaker. The shaker model is GNLMZ1236. It is a big size shale shaker for coarse separation.

GN dewatering vibrating screen-linear motion is widely used in beneficiation, coal preparation, building materials, metallurgy, chemical industry and other industries. In the beneficiation industry, it is commonly used for desliming, dewatering, demineralization and dry discharge of tailings of iron ore, nonferrous metal ore, coal mine and other materials.

2.Double deck shale shaker. The model is GNZS706. The shaker model can be linear motion or dual motion. The double deck shale shaker has 3 screen panels at bottom deck and 3 screen panels at upper deck. It is used after dewatering shale shaker to remove the fine particles. The double deck shale shaker is widely used for non-oil mud separation.

3.Mud cleaner separator, the under flow shaker model is GNZJ703. It is single deck shale shaker which use the same size screens as double deck shale shaker GNZS706.

4.Big bowl decanter centrifuge. The model is GNLW553. The GNLW553 (High Volume-Big Bowl) centrifuge is supplied with a 22 inch diameter bowl which has a length over diameter ratio of 3.3:1 for effective removal of low gravity solids from the active drilling fluid system.The centrifuge is widely used for various types slurry dewatering treatment.

5.Chemical dosing dewatering unit. It is used together with decanter centrifuge for ultra fine solids separation.

The dewatering unit which is composed of high speed decanter centrifuge and chemical dosing unit are fixed inside a modified container. In this case, it is easy for movement and layout at jobsite. And the design is more compact for less footprint.

Mud tank is a basic device for drilling mud solids control system. Drilling mud tank looks sample. It seems easy for fabrication. The difficulties lie in design and pipelines to allocate all equipment. It is difficult to design the mud tanks to suit for clients demands on requested separation equipment and mixing system.

As every jobsite has different request for mud tank size, the number of mud tanks, mud tank usable capacity, the layout of mud tanks, and most clients have different request on separation equipment and mixing equipment, they request different models and numbers of shale shaker, desander, desilter, decanter centrifuge, jet mud mixer, pumps, etc… In this case, nearly every mud system is different. It is a big work to make the mud tank system designs and drawings, and need to change the designs and drawings again and again during the communication with clients. It is a huge work to make full package mud tank systems. It has high request on the manufacturers’ capability.

Shale shaker is a basic separation equipment. There are various types of shale shakers, like 3-panel shale shaker, 4-panel shale shaker, single deck shale shaker, double deck shale shaker, etc… Shale shaker is nearly used for all separation system. And it is the 1st stage solids control separation equipment in mud systems.

There is normally a sand trap under the shale shaker. The drilling fluid enters the drilling fluid mud tank system after passing through the shale shaker screen. The sand trap plays a very important role in the daily use of 80 mesh screen cloth or coarser screen cloth.

The bottom of the sand trap should be inclined by 45 ° to promote the sedimentation of large sand particles and rapid discharge outside the tank. The bottom inclined by 45 ° or more has a self-cleaning effect. The sand trap shall not be stirred, but shall enter the lower tank through overflow. Both linear and balanced elliptical motion drilling fluid shale shakers have this technology. Fine cobalt chips generally do not have enough residence time to precipitate. When cheap drilling fluid is used, the grit pump shall pump 1 ~ 2 times every 1H. At present, ultra-fine mesh screen cloth is widely used. Due to the expensive waste treatment cost and environmental concerns, such discharge is not allowed and the cost is limited.

After shale shaker, there are various types of separation equipment, clients can choose per jobsite demands and jobsite situation, like 3-in-1 mud cleaner, desander, desilter, vacuum degasser, middle speed decanter centrifuge, high speed decanter centrifuge, jet mud mixing unit, etc…

During the 1st snowing day of the winter, GN Solids Control workers keep working. The well packed equipment were dispatched from GN Solids Control factory batch by batch.

A full package of GNTBM-360 Slurry Separation Plant was shipped to the nearest seaport. Handling capacity of the system is up to 360m3/h.It will sail for a pipe jacking engineering company. GNTBM-360 is a compact design Slurry Separation Plant with small footprint. Although the design of GN seperation plant is very compact, there are 3-stage solids control separation equipment included in the unit. It can be used by tunnel boring machines(TBM), piling, pipe jacking, etc…

There is a coarse separation shale shaker equipment in the GNTBM-360 Slurry Separation Plant for the pre-separation. After that, recovered drilling mud will be fed to a double deck mud cleaner for bottom deck shaker separation. And then drilling mud can be pumped to desander cyclone and desilter cyclones for the 2nd stage and the 3rd stage separation.

Heavy duty slurry pumps are used in GN slurry separation plant to feed dirty mud to shale shakers. And than centrifugal pump, also called as sand pumps are used for desander and desilter feeding. In case of decanter centrifuge is applied for fine solids separation, submersible slurry pump or screw pump can be used for mud feeding.

The GN Solids Control Slurry separation unit is popular for project of AVN Machines , Mix shields  or Shaft Sinking Machines. GN Solids Control utilize shale shakers, desander, desilter, as well as decanter centrifuges to process liquid and solids separate, and remove the excavated solids from the bentonite suspension – a mixture of water and thixotropic clay. The cleaned fluid is then transferred back to the slurry circulation.

Besides the GNTBM-360 for 360m3/h capacity, GN Solids Control can make Small Size:GNTBM-120M (120m³/h), GNTBM-240M (240m³/h),GNTBM-360M (360m³/h), GNTBM-500M( 500m³/h)

Big Size: GNTBM-900M (900m³/h), GNTBM-1200M(1200m³/h), GNTBM-1400M (1400m³/h), GNTBM-2000M (2000m³/h), GNTBM-2800M (2800m³/h), GNTBM-3600M(3600m³/h)