We have faced different clients' questions, why do you offer a different specification system to another manufacturer? Or, why are you quoting a different specification system to the last one? Different mud systems cater for different users' demands, working conditions, budgets, and so on.

Different mud systems specifications

Usually, we talk about the specifications of mud systems including treating capacity, main equipment and quantity, general power, mud tank volume or quantity, and so on. What are the details then? Let's find more information below.

About the treating capacity, it’s the flow rate of the whole mud system. It is from the flow rate of mud pumps. In general, we make a mud system holding capacity of 90~120m³/h for ZJ20; 180m³/h for ZJ30; 240m³/h for ZJ40 and ZJ50; while 300m³/h for ZJ70. For the ZJ20 rig, there are 350HP, 650HP, etc. so the flow rate is a range.

Let’s take the ZJ40 rig and its solids control system as an example. We can provide 2 options in general.

For option 1, we suggest 4 mud tanks and a trip tank that holds 4-8m³ volume. Regards to the equipment, we fit 2 sets of Hunter-MG3 shaker, 1 set of Hunter 240B cleaner, 1 set of APZCQ240 vacuum degasser, 1 set of APLW450x1000N centrifuge, 2 sets of APSB8x6 centrifugal pump, 1 set of APJBQ6545 shearing pump, 1 set of submersible slurry pump AP50YZ40-10 for centrifuge, 3 sets of venturi mud hopper, 2 sets of mixing pump, 9 sets of APMA mud agitator, each set of mud agitator for pill tank and trip tank, 10 sets of mud gun, 1 set of mud gas separator APMGS1000, 1 set of flare ignition device, all auxiliary components including lamps, ladders, handrails, walkways, pipelines, fittings, and so on.

For option 2, we suggest 5 mud tanks and a trip tank that holds 8m³ volume. About the equipment, we fit 2 sets of Hunter-MG4 shaker, 1 set of Hunter 240B mud conditioner, 1 set of APZCQ270 gas separator, 1 set of APLW450x1000-N decanter centrifuge, all centrifugal pumps, feeding pump, mud agitators are same as above option 1, however, the difference is agitator quantity and mud gun quantity. All other items or accessories are the same as option 1.

Besides the above details, we can propose different solutions on mud cleaner. How? We can set a separated desander and a separated desilter instead of an integrated cleaner. You know that mud cleaner is the integration of desander cone, desilter cone and shale shaker. Using 2 separated separators instead of 1 integrated mud conditioner is applicable, too.

Furthermore, the decanter centrifuge pump can be a submersible slurry pump or screw pump. The difference is screw pump is a horizontal type and costs higher, while the slurry pump is a vertical type and more economical. However, we also call the screw pump the progressive cavity pump since it’s more powerful, and screw pumps perform more stable/reliable.

Above proposals are for your reference. There are still other options, such as changing mud tank quantity, or single tank dimension, we also can change certain equipment, shale shaker for example to the Hunter-D series; or we change mud agitators to the APJBQ series mixer.

It’s flexible and adjustable. If you had a higher budget, of course, we’ll suggest a higher level configuration. No matter a single piece of equipment or the whole mud system. If you prefer a lower-cost solution, we’ll propose the economical one for you. But frankly speaking, they will be different. When you have a demand or inquiry and we can offer you, you’ll find the difference and more details.

What are other issues affecting systems specification?

Considering the working condition at the drilling site, we may change some specifications. For example, if the system works in a high-temperature air, we’ll provide special shade to resist strong sunshine, wind, and high temperatures outdoor; we’ll also provide the air conditioner in the duty room. On the contrary, if the system works in extremely cold air, we’ll provide the heating line and the isolation cover or shed to keep warm for the drilling mud processing part.

Another issue is the job site area. If the place is sufficiently wide we can propose larger mud tanks or more mud tanks, which will help users get better performance of the mud system, however, if the space is very limited or narrow we have to propose fewer tanks.

Finally, we take end users’ demands as essential standards. For example, a drilling company is the contractor of a petroleum company while we are a supplier of a drilling company. Then we have to take all the detailed requirements of the petroleum company as the final requirements. There have been clients selecting shale shakers or mud cleaner from M-I SWACO® or Derrick®️Corporation but all other equipment from Aipu solids control. So we’ll import certain equipment for them and set all equipment on mud tanks well for whole system assembling. That means the cost is much higher and lead time is longer usually. Anyway, we’ll provide our best products and services, and trust all users will get the optimal solutions at Aipu finally.