Hydrocyclones

DEFINITION
 Hydrocyclones are essentially simple devices that convert pressure
generated by a centrifugal pump into centrifugal force, causing
suspended solids in the mud to be separated from the fluid.

 This separation is accelerated settling due to the increased

gravitational force cause by the centrifugal action inside the cone.
The action inside the hydrocyclone can multiply gravitational force
by as much as 200 times.

 In drilling operations, hydrocyclones use these centrifugal forces to

separate solids in the 15- to 80-micron range from the drilling fluid.
This solids laden fluid is discharged from the lower apex of the
cone, and the cleaned drilling fluid is discharged from the overflow
discharge.
 Hydrocyclones consist of
1- an upper cylindrical section fitted with a tangential feed section,
2- a lower conical section that is open at its lower apex allowing for
solids discharge (Figure 11.1).

 The closed, upper cylindrical section has a downward-protruding

vortex finder pipe extending below the tangential feed location.
 Fluid from a centrifugal pump enters the hydrocyclone
tangentially, at high velocity, through a feed nozzle on the side of
the top cylinder.
 As drilling fluid enters the hydrocyclone, centrifugal force on the
swirling slurry accelerates the solids to the cone wall.
 The drilling fluid, a mixture of liquid and solids, rotates rapidly
while spiraling downward toward the apex.
 The higher-mass solids move toward the cone wall.
 Movement progresses to the apex opening at the cone bottom.
 At the apex opening, the solids along the cone wall, together with
a small amount of fluid, exit the cone.
 The discharge is restricted by the size of the apex.
 Fluid and smaller-mass particles, which have been concentrated
away from the cone wall, are forced to reverse flow direction into
an upwardspiraling path at the center of the cone to exit through
the vortex finder.
 The vortex finder is a hollow tube that extends into the center of
the cone.

 It diverts drilling fluid from flowing directly to the overflow outlet,

causing the drilling fluid to move downward and into the cone.

 The swirling liquid is forced inward and, still rotating in the same
direction, reverses the downward flow and moves upward toward
the center of the vortex finder.

 In a balanced cone, the inner cylinder of swirling fluid surrounds a

cylinder of air that is pulled in through the cone apex.

 Solids and a small amount of liquid are discharged from the lower
apex of the cylinder.

 The apex opening relative to the diameter of the vortex finder will
determine the dryness of the discharged solids.
 Many balanced cones are designed to provide maximum
separation efficiency when the inlet head is 75 feet.
 Fluid will always have the same velocity within the cone if
the same head is delivered to the hydrocyclone inlet.
 Pressure can be converted to feet of head with the
equation :
 Hydrocyclones separate solids according to mass, which is a function of
both density and particle size.

 However, in unweighted drilling fluids, the solids density has a

comparatively narrow range, and size has the greatest influence on their
settling.

 Centrifugal forces act on the suspended-solids particles, so those with the

largest mass (or largest size) are the first to move outward toward the
wall of the hydrocyclone.

 Consequently, large solids with a small amount of liquid will concentrate

at the cone wall, and smaller particles and the majority of liquid will
concentrate in the inner portion.
 Larger-size (higher-mass) particles, upon reaching the conical
section, are exposed to the greatest centrifugal force and remain in
their downward spiral path.
 The solids sliding down the wall of the cone, along with the bound
liquid, exit through the apex orifice. This creates the underflow of
the hydrocyclone.
 Smaller particles are concentrated in the middle of the cone with
most of the drilling fluid. As the cone narrows, the reduced cross-
sectional area restricts the downward-spiraling path of the
innermost layers.
 A second, upward vortex forms within the hydrocyclone, and the
center fluid layers with smaller solids particles turn toward the
overflow.
 At the point of maximum shear, the shear stress within a 4-inch
desilter is on the order and magnitude of 1,000 reciprocal seconds.
 The upward-moving vortex creates a low-pressure zone in the
center of the hydrocyclone.

 In a balanced cone, air will enter the lower apex in counterflow to

the solids and liquid discharged from the hydrocyclone.

 In an unbalanced cone, a rope discharge will emerge from the

cone, resulting in excessive quantities of liquid and a wide range of
solids in the discard.

 An unbalanced cone is little more than a settling pot, similar in

operation to a sand trap.

 in a balanced hydrocyclone There are two countercurrent

spiraling streams, one spiraling downward along the cone surface
and the other spiraling upward along the cone center axis.
 The countercurrent directions, together with turbulent eddy
currents, concomitant with extremely high velocities, result in an
inefficient separation of particles.

 The two streams tend to commingle within the contact regions,

and particles are incorporated into the wrong streams.

 Hydrocyclones, therefore, do not make a sharp separation of solids

sizes. The efficiency of a hydrocyclone can be improved by
extending the vortex finder farther into the cone, which eliminates
some of the commingling.

 The farther the vortex finder is extended, the better the

separation.
 Hydrocyclone sizes are designed arbitrarily by the inside cone
diameter at the inlet.
 By convention, desanders have a cone diameter of 6 inches and
larger; desilters have internal diameters smaller than 6 inches.
 Normally, discharges from the apex of these cones are discarded
when used on unweighted drilling fluids.
 Prolonged use of these cones on a weighted drilling fluid will
result in a significant reduction in drillingfluid density caused by
the discard of weighting material.
 When these cones are used as part of a mud cleaner configuration,
the cone underflow is presented to a shaker screen.
 The shaker screen returns most of the barite and liquid to the
drilling-fluid system, rejecting solids larger than the screen mesh.
 This is a common application of unbalanced hydrocyclones, since
the cut point is determined by the shaker screen and not the cone.
 Since most hydrocyclones are designed to operate with 75 feet of
head at the input manifold, the flow rate through the cones is
constant and predictable from the diameter of the cone for a
typical tangential feed cone inlet of given orifice size (Table 11.2).
• Hydrocyclones with feed chambers that reshape the incoming
drilling fluid from a round-pipe profile to a rectangular one that
conforms better to the feed chamber geometry can increase the
amount of drilling fluid the cone can handle by 35–45% for the
same pressure while at the same time increasing separation
efficiency.

• The increased performance is due to the fact that the dead

spaces in the feed chamber are eliminated.

• If a ramp feed is included in the feed inlet, the drilling fluid is

forced down, which allows incoming drilling fluid to enter
without the extreme turbulence caused by impingement of the
drilling-fluid streams. This reduces backpressure, which increases
throughput even more. It also minimizes turbulence inside the
cone, which also increases the separation efficiency.
 The D50 cut point of a solids-separation device is usually defined
as the particle size at which one half of the weight of those
particles goes to the underflow and one half of the weight goes to
the overflow. The cut point is related to the inside diameter of the
hydrocyclone.

 For example,
 a 12-inch cone is capable of around 60 to 80 microns;
 a 6-inch cone is capable of around 40 to 60 microns;
 and a 4-inch cone is capable of around 20 to 40 microns.

 These cut points are representative for a fluid that contains a low
solids content. The cut point will vary according to the size and
quantity of solids in the feed and the flow properties of the fluid.
 When hydrocyclones are mounted above the liquid level in the
mud tanks, a siphon breaker should be installed in the overflow
header or manifold from the cones.

 Otherwise, a high vacuum will occur and will actually vacuum up a

lot of the solids that would otherwise be discarded; instead, these
solids are reintroduced back into to the active system.

 In some extreme cases, no solids will exit the cone apex if the
vacuum is high enough.

 The siphon breaker installed as illustrated should be one quarter of

the diameter of the overflow header pipe (Figure 11.2).
DISCHARGE
 Most hydrocyclones are of a balanced design.
 A properly adjusted, balanced hydrocyclone has a spray
discharge at the underflow outlet and exhibits a central air
suction core.
 Many balanced hydrocyclones can be adjusted so that when
water is fed under pressure, nothing discharges at the apex.
 Conversely, when coarse solids are added to the feed slurry,
wet solids are discharged at the apex.
 Even with this adjustment, there still should be a large opening
in the bottom of the cyclone. This will confirm that the cyclone
is hydraulically balanced and discharges at the bottom (apex)
only when solids, which the cyclone can separate, are in the
feed slurry (drilling fluid).
 A balanced cyclone should be operated with spray discharge. In
this process, coarser solids separate to the outside in the
downward spiral and pass over the lip of the apex as an annular
ring.
 To set a cone to balance, slowly open the apex discharge while
circulating water through the cone. When a small amount of water
is discharged and the center air core is almost the same diameter
as the opening, the cone is said to be balanced (see Figure 11.3).
 With spray discharge, the device removes the maximum amount of
solids, and discarding of whole mud is minimized.
 The umbrella-shaped spray discharge indicates that a uniform
solids loading is presenting to the cone, with proper separation
occurring.
 The discharge should have a hollow center and appear as a cone
spray. A wide cone spray may indicate that the apex orifice is too
large. When the apex orifice is larger than required, an excess
amount of liquid will exit, carrying with it finer feed solids.
However, if more of the fine solids are discarded through the apex,
then the density of the mud returned to the active system will be
reduced. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
 A larger opening minimizes plugging of the apex. It depends on
what is most important for your drilling operation. Is it solids
removal or liquids conservation that is most important to you?
 Several conditions restrict separations and exiting of solids that
have spiraled along the cone wall. These include:

1. Excessive solids concentration

2. Excessive volumetric feed rate per cone
3. Excessive fluid viscosity.
4. Excessive vacuum (caused by a long siphon leg)
5. Restricted (too small) apex
6. Inadequate feed pressure
 If a greater number of larger solids are entrained within the central
vortex stream to exit with the overflow.
 The discharge pattern changes from spray to rope discharge,
which is characterized by a cylindrical, or ropelike, appearance.
 With the rope discharge, no air core occurs through the center of
the cone. In this case, the apex acts as a choke that restricts flow,
rather than as a weir.
 Rope discharge is a process in which material pours from the cone
apex as a slow-moving cylinder (or rope).
 A hydrocyclone operating like this is performing an inefficient
solids/liquid separation.
 The apex velocity in rope discharge is far less than that in spray
discharge; therefore, separation is less efficient because fewer
solids are discarded (Figure 11.4).
HYDROCYCLONE CAPACITY
 Since most hydrocyclones are designed to operate at a constant
75 feet of head at the input manifold, flow rate through any cone
is constant at constant inlet pressure for a given fluid viscosity.
The smaller desilter hydrocyclones are rated from 40 to 100 gpm
of liquid removal, depending on the cone design. The normal 4-
inch cones will remove 4 gpm of solids, or 5.7 barrels per hour of
solids, per cone.
 Therefore, a 16-cone desilter manifold will accommodate removal
of 510 cubic feet of solids per hour. For a 17-inch hole, this
equates to penetration rates averaging 297 feet per hour. Clearly,
if design and operational characteristics are adequately
maintained, more than ample solids separation can be effected.
 For deepwater drilling applications, higher flow rates are
encountered when boosting the riser. Additional cones may be
needed to handle the additional flow rates to ensure that the
cone manifolds process all of the mud.
 The accelerated gravitational forces generated in hydrocyclones
are inversely proportional to the radius of the hydrocyclone
cylinder.
 Thus, the larger the diameter of the cone, the coarser the
separation. In general, the larger the hydrocyclone, the coarser its
cut point and greater its throughput.
 The smaller the cone, the smaller the size of particles the cone will
separate. In other words, the median particle size removed
decreases with cone diameter.
 Median particle size also increases with increasing fluid viscosity
and density, but decreases as particle-specific gravity increases.
 Oilfield hydrocyclones range between 4 and 12 inches, based on
the inner diameter of the intake cylinder.
 A small hydrocyclone diameter is used for ultra-fine separations.
Desanders
 Desanding units are designed to separate drilled solids in the
50- to 80-micron range and barite in the 30- to 50-micron
range.

 They are used primarily to remove high solids volume

associated with fast drilling of large-diameter top holes.

 In water-base drilling fluids, desanders make a median

separation cut of 2.6–specific gravity (SG) solids in the 50- to
80-micron size range.

 The desander removes sand-size and larger particles that pass

through the shale shaker screens.
 Desanders are installed immediately downstream of the shaker
and degasser.

 Suction is taken from the immediate upstream tank, usually the

degasser discharge tank.

 Discharge from the desander is made into the tank immediately

downstream.

 Suction and discharge tanks are equalized through valves or an

opening located on the bottom of each tank.

 Desanders are used continuously during drilling surface holes.

Desilters
 Desilter cones are manufactured in a variety of dimensions,
ranging from 2 to 6 inches, and make separations of drilled
solids in the 12- to 40-micron range.

 They will also separate barite particles in the 8- to 25-micron

range.

 Desilters are installed downstream from the shale shaker, sand

trap, degasser, and desander.

 Desilter cones differ from desander cones only in dimensions

and operate on exactly the same principles.

 Common desilter cone sizes are between 2 and 5 inches.

 A centrifugal pump should be dedicated to provide fluid to the
desilter manifold only.

 Setting up a centrifuge pump to run multiple pieces of equipment

is not a good idea, as doing so requires compromises in
performance and opportunities for incorrect operation.

 These units make the finest particle-size separations of any full-

flow solids-control equipment—down to 12 microns of drilled
solid.

 The desilter, therefore, is an important device for reducing average

particle size and reducing drilled solids.
 Desilter suction is also taken from the immediate upstream tank,
usually the desander discharge tank.
 Desilter suction and discharge tanks are, again, equalized through
a valve, or valves, or an opening located on the bottom of each
tank. The size of the valve or opening should be

• The maximum (max) gpm will be the maximum flow rate expected,
not the backflow, as there will be times when the unit will not be
operating and the total rig flow rate will have to pass through the
valve or opening.

• Suction should not be taken from the tank into which chemicals and
other materials (barite and bentonite) are added because valuable
treating materials may be lost.
 Comparative Operation of Desanders
and Desilters
 The role of desanders is to reduce loading downstream on desilters.
 Installing a desander ahead of the desilter relieves a significant
amount of solids loading on the desilter and improves desilter
efficiency.
 High rates of penetration, especially in unconsolidated surface hole,
where the largest-diameter bits are used, results in generating larger
concentrations of drilled solids.
 This may place desilters in rope discharge. For this reason, desanders,
which have greater volumetric capacity and can make separations of
coarser drilled solids, are placed upstream of desilters.
 Desanders remove a higher mass (i.e., coarser drilled solids) during
periods of high solids loading.
 Desilters can then efficiently process the reduced solids-content
overflow of the desanders.

 If the drill rate is slow, generating only a few hundred pounds per
hour of drilled solids, the desander may be turned off and the
desilter used to process the entire circulating system.

 Desilters should be used on all unweighted, water-base mud.

 These units are not used on weighted muds because they discard
an appreciable amount of barite. Most barite particles fall within
the silt-size range.

 Desilter operation is important for all unweighted fluids; however,

in oil-base muds with high viscosity (as found in deepwater
drilling), the apex discharge may be centrifuged for oil-phase
salvage.
Cectrifuges
 In oil well drilling, centrifuges are used to condition drilling
fluids by dividing the fluid into high-density and low-density
streams, permitting one to be separated from the other.
 The division is achieved by accelerated sedimentation.
 As the drilling fluid is passed through a rapidly rotating bowl,
centrifugal force moves the heavier particles to the bowl wall,
where they are scraped toward the underflow (heavy slurry)
discharge ports by a concentric auger, also called a scroll or
conveyor, which rotates at a slightly slower rate than the bowl.
 The separation of the heavier particles divides the processed
fluid into two streams: the heavy phase, also called the
underflow or cake; and the lighter phase, which is called the
overflow, light slurry, effluent, or centrate (Figure 13.1).
• The inner surface of the rotating bowl receives the settled solids,
as the container bottom, and the scroll functions as the scraper,
conveying the settled solids to, and across, the beach, where they
are dried by the removal of free liquid, then to the underflow
discharge ports.
• Essentially, the centrifuge design wraps the surface corresponding
to the bottom of a sedimentation container around the scraping
device, the conveyor (Figures 13.5, 13.6, and 13.7).
• Basically, a decanting centrifuge is a simple machine: a rotating bowl
containing a concentric conveying scroll.
• The rotation of the bowl forces solids to the wall, where the scroll
transports the solids, as previously described.
• Two different bowl designs are available: conical, in which
the entire bowl is cone shaped; and cylindrical/conical, in which the
effluent (or light slurry) end of the bowl is cylindrical.
•This configuration is preferred for drilling-fluids applications because it
offers greater capacity.
The elevated centrifugal forces created by the rotation of the bowl
•The
accelerate the sedimentation process so that separation that might take
hours or days under the normal gravitational force of 1 g in a container
is achieved in seconds at the 400–3000 g generated by the centrifuge.
• An Irish mathematician, Sir George Stokes, described the basic
principals of fluid mechanics, defined sedimentation in Stokes’ law:
• The centrifuge, in splitting the processed fluid into two streams—the
underflow, or ‘‘cake,’’ containing the coarser solids; and the overflow,
centrate, or effluent, containing most of the liquid and the finer
particles—provides a means of selectively removing the finest, most
damaging, solids from the drilling fluid.

• The removal of these solids in order to control decsity, rheology and

filter cake quality is the primary reason for centrifuging weighted
drilling fluids. When the finest solids are not removed, the only
alternative means of reducing their concentration is dilution, always an
expensive process.

• Centrifuging weighted drilling fluids routes the coarser solids (both

barite and high gravity) to the underflow, and the finer solids
(bentonite, barite, and low gravity) to the overflow.

• Separation of the overflow, consisting of the finer solids together with

most of the processed liquid and the dilution fluid, reduces the
concentration of the viscosity-building solids, alleviates solids problems,
and reduces the need for dilution.
• The mixture of feed mud and any dilution fluid enters the acceleration
chamber, or feed chamber, from which it is ejected through the feed
ports by centrifugal force.
• Centrifugal force then carries the slurry to the pool, or pond, where
the increased centrifugal forces produced by the rotation of the bowl
cause the larger, heavier particles to settle to the bowl wall.
• For larger solids, this happens almost immediately, while it takes
longer for the smaller solids that are large enough to settle.
Solids that reach the wall are scraped toward the beach (drainage deck)
and solids-discharge ports by the scroll.
bowl

heavier particles
the scroll
drainage deck
• The pool is the mud in the bowl at any given time, and the beach
is the area between the end of the pool and the solids-discharge
ports.

• During their passage across the beach, most of the free liquid is
removed from the solids.

•The discharged solids will, unavoidably, be wet with absorbed

liquid, but no free liquid should be present.

• The degree of dryness of the solids in the cake is primarily a

function of solids size, the characteristics of the feed fluid, and the
operating parameters of the centrifuge.

• Smaller particles have greater surface area per unit of volume and
consequently adsorb more liquid.
• The relative motion between the scroll and the bowl, which
controls the rate at which cake is removed from the machine, is set
by the gearbox.

• Typically available gearbox ratios include 40:1, 52:1, 80:1, and

125:1. In each case, the scroll makes one less rotation than the bowl
at the specified number of bowl rotations.

• For example, at 80:1, the scroll rotates 79 times each time the bowl
rotates 80 times. Solids conveyance is faster at the lower ratios.

• The relative conveyor rpm can be calculated by dividing the rpm of

the bowl by the gearbox ratio.

• For example, with a 40:1 gearbox, a bowl rotating at 1800 rpm has
a differential speed of 45 rpm.
• The primary variable controlling sedimentation rate is the
centrifugal force, which is proportional to bowl diameter and the
square of rpm.
• Centrifuges used in drilling applications usually have diameters of
14–28 inches and bowl lengths of 30–55 inches. Rotational speeds
are generally from 1500 to 4000 rpm, with most machines operating
toward the lower end of this range. High-g centrifuges can produce
more than 3000 g: 3000 times the acceleration of gravity.
• The g force can be calculated from the following equation:

For example, for a 14-inch bowl rotated at 2000 rpm:

• At higher g forces, more solids are separated, and they tend to
become more tightly packed, making them more difficult to transport
and requiring more torque.
• As much as the available torque is limited, the feed rate may have to
be limited to avoid stalling the scroll.