Solids control equipment separates drill solids from the drilling mud

The drilling mud has a host of critical functions, including controlling formation pressures, removing cuttings from the well, sealing permeable formations, and maintaining wellbore stability until casing is cemented in the wellbore. Meanwhile, solids control equipment separates drill solids from the drilling mud, thereby allowing it to be re-circulated down the drill pipe. The pumps drive the circulating system with sufficient pressure and volume to remove the cuttings away from the bit and lift them to the surface. Additional functions of drilling muds include: minimizing damage to the producing formations (reservoirs), cooling and lubricating the bit and drillstring assembly, preventing the formation of gas hydrates in well control equipment, transmitting hydraulic energy to the drilling tools and bits, ensuring that the formations can be evaluated with logging equipment, controlling corrosion and facilitate cementing of casings.

Drilling mud systems must possess a number of key properties to perform their critical functions, including:

·sufficient density to control subsurface pressure;

· viscosity adequate to suspend cuttings and eventually remove them from the wellbore;

· satisfactory filtration properties that allow the drilling mud to build a thin layer of solids onto the permeable formations, thereby creating a seal against the invasion of muds and solids

· enough lubricity to rotate the drillstring and the bit.

The main component of a drilling mud system is the base mud. Depending on the lithology, environment, application and well objectives, drilling mud systems designed to achieve these key properties are either water-based (aqueous) or non-aqueous emulsion systems.