Hydrocyclone Oil Gas Mud Desander Compact Cyclonic Unit Oil&Gas

The Desander separator is the second phase of equipment in the solids control system. There are many different configurations. Such as cones quantity, bottom shaker, electrical system, and so on.

Below are technical specifications for your reference.

Bentonite desander has been specifically developed for foundation applications. the Bentonite mud is reliably separated from all kinds of solids such as sand, clay, slims, and other organic matters. The desander consists mainly of a settling tank, special centrifugal pumps, centrifugal separators, vibration screens, and a patented control system. All wear parts are made of top quality, highly resistant, and long-lasting materials for extended durability and easy maintenance.

The inline desander separates solids from multiphase or liquid flow, based on density difference and centrifugal force. The mixture flow enters the desander liner and is set in a swirl via vanes. The swirling flow enters a constriction that intensifies the swirl due to the conservation of angular momentum. It is this swirl that separates the liquid and solids based on density difference under G-forces. The sand exits the desander liner as concentrated slurry. The cleaned fluid reverses flow direction and flows through the center core of the desander liner toward the vessel exit. The desander can be used at various locations in a process plant. Typical application areas are inlet desander positioned at the inlet of a production system either upstream or downstream the production choke, and liquid desander positioned downstream a primary separation stage, for example, to protect an injection reservoir and water injection pump.

Desanders and desilters are solid control equipment with a set of hydrocyclones that separate sand and silt from the drilling fluids in drilling rigs. Desanders are installed on top of the mud tank following the shale shaker and the degasser but before the desilter. Desander removes the abrasive solids from the drilling fluids which cannot be removed by shakers. Normally the diameter of the solid for the desander to be separated would be 45~74μm, and 15~44μm for desilter. A centrifugal pump is used to pump the drilling fluids from the mud tank into the set of hydrocyclones.

For the oil drilling mud process, the desander cone is sized 8-12''.  Different size cones hold different treating capacities. Before we confirm the configuration or design of the mud desander, we should consider the flow rate of all cones. For example, 10" cone capacity is about 90-120m³/h and if we request a 240m³/h flow rate then we need 2 desander cones at least. 

Cones on APCS Desanders are all high-quality polyurethane. Such cones are durable and anti-corrosive, oil-resistant, high temperature-resistant. They are very suitable for the drilling fluids process. For some clients, they prefer flexible capacity adjustment during operation so we'll install ball valves on the cone's inlet line. And we can configure 3 desander cone sized 10'', or 2 desander cons sized 12''. For much larger capacity, we can use 3 desander cone sized 12''. Moreover, some clients prefer the casting iron desander cone. According to the actual demand and condition, we'll make desander to satisfy both clients and working condition.

Drilling mud is transferred to cones by a centrifugal pump from the shaker tank. The Desander cone is fed by the desander pump with fluids below the shaker Under pump pressure the fluids run into cones and flow with centrifugal force. Then the heavy particles will deposit down and push out of the cone drop in Apex. Particles larger than 47 microns will be separated out of drilling mud.

After APCs desander processing, the cuttings finer than 47 microns will flow with fluids through the outlet line on the desander. The drilling mud with solids sprays out of cones and drops down to the bottom shaker. Under vibration and filtration, the solids will be drier and save many fluids for the drilling rig. The cleaned mud is to be transferred to the desilter cone. However, some desander is designed without a bottom shaker, the drilling mud with solids will flow out of the desander on the slide channel directly.

For the desander separator, the bottom shaker is a flexible configuration, too. It can be the Hunter-D series, Hunter-M, or Hunter-Mini. And the screen panels can be 2, 3, 4, or even 5. For some clients' preference for dual motion, it can be made as a dual motion desander, too. 

Actually, the bottom shaker under the desander cone is used to dry fluids out of the cone. So, the mesh size is rather high and the capacity is enough for discharge from the cone but not the same as the previous shaker

For any interest or questions, please feel free to contact AIPU. You will get a professional proposal in time.