How can we improve solids control shale shaker and drilling fluid system?

Have you read the book named "Shale Shaker and Drilling Fluids Systems: Techniques and Technology for Improving Solids Control Management" published by American Association of Drilling Engineers? If you haven't, I would recommend this book to you if you are involved in oil & gas drilling or drilling fluid solids control. I think it is very necessary.

This comprehensive guide describes the various aspects of shale shaker design, applications, and improvements for maximizing efficiency. Drilling engineers will find technical data for better understanding and design of shale shakers; and foremen and derrickmen will discover valuable, practical insights to achieve optimum shaker performance.

The guide helps prevent problems of solid controls by clearly describing design, application, and nomenclature of shale shakers, screens, and screen panels. In addition it explains many other aspects of complete solids control management.

Shale Shaker

Drilling Fluids System

Solids control is a technique used in the drilling to separate the solids in the drilling fluids that are crushed by the drill bits and carried out of the well surface. Normally solid control system is consist of five stages, including mud tank, shale shaker, vacuum degasser, desander, desilter, centrifuge. Shale shaker is used to separate the big solids with diameter above 75μm, and 45~74μm for desander, and 15~44μm for desilter. Sometimes desander & desilter are combined as high efficient mud cleaner. When air enters into the drilling fluids, vacuum degasser is used to separate the air. If no air in the mud, the degasser would work as a big agitator. All these equipments are mounted on the top of the mud tank. After separating the solids, the clean mud would be pumped into the borehole again.

Effective solids control can be attributed to the overall performance of all the components of the mud systems. Conditioning the drilling fluid with the goal of dramatically lowering maintenance cost, avoiding excessive chemical treatment and maintaining mud systems volume will decrease the chance of equipment failure, unnecessary high mud costs, hole and drilling problems.