Shaker screens for WBM and OBM at oil drilling site

Shaker screens are very different from each other. Based on the shale shaker model, the mesh size of themselves. Besides the material feature and specification of screen itself, there is the difference on configuration.

WBM features affecting shaker screen panels

Drilling mud is the drilling fluid. There are water base mud(WBM) and oil base mud(WBM). Drilling mud plays an important role for whole well drilling. It lubricates drilling bits, cools down the drilling bits or motor, and lubricates drilling pipe. It also bring the drilling cuttings out of the bore.

So, drilling mud costs much and considering the environmental conservation, the water sources we process drilling fluids to recycle and reuse it. Drilling fluids are processed by shale shakers firstly. Shaker screens are the platform to filter cuttings out.

Water base mud is a very mature technique. And WBM is economical, easy to get. Although it’s water base sometimes users add oil into it to enhance its performance, especially on lubrication. WBM is light weight, low density and it will pollute the oil and gas layer.

Oil base mud features

Oil base mud including 2 main types. One is pure rude oil base, the other is oil mixed water base. Compared with WBM, it’s expensive, heavy, and high density. However, it performs better on lubrication. OBM won’t pollute oil or gas but it pollutes environment more than WBM

OBM shaker screen

Furthermore, OBM is difficult to get ideal configuration. But for some complicated working condition, OBM is more suitable for well drilling. OBM can help generate big piece of drilling cuttings and perform better on high temperature resistance.

After knowing the main features of this 2 kinds of drilling fluid, we have suggestion on screen selection as below

Shaker screens for selecting

Shaker screens including various of types. According to the surface, there are flat panel and panels with peaks/waves; according to compression method, there are hook strap and wedge blocked type; according to materials, there are composite frame and steel frame, as well as the soft composite back support panel.

In this post, we’ll talk about more details of screens configuration. The wiremesh of screen cloth. For screens, there are 1-3 layers of screen cloth. Among the layers, they can be square hole and oblong hole. Also, they can be mixture of different patterns of holes. Such as 1 layer square hole and the other layer is oblong hole.

For one pattern of hole, the wire diameter can be normal thick or thicker or thinner. This will lead to different conductance and the NBA if the separation point is same. Different configuration of screens will perform differently. Such as abrasion-resistant, high conductance or long service life

For OBM, we suggest the thicker wire for longer service life, for WBM we suggest the higher conductance. However, this is not a fixed proposal. We can use screens flexibly according to actual working conditions.

If the drilling fluid is with high viscosity, the thinner wire is a better solution. If the drilling fluid is WBM and lower weight & density, the thicker wire is better. No matter what kind of screen configuration, we need to consider the separation point belong to which API designation. A proper screen selection benefits cuttings removal and general cost saving.

Please come to us if you have any demand or questions of shaker screens selection. Tell us more information of your working conditions. Such as drilling mud specifications, well condition and ground condition. You’ll get the optimal solutions here.