Mud tank

The mud tank is the long gray container

A mud tank is an open-top container, typically made of steel, to store drilling fluid on a drilling rig. They are also called mud pits, because they used to be nothing more than pits dug out of the earth.

The tanks are generally open-top and have walkways on top to allow a worker to traverse and inspect the level of fluid in the tanks. The walkways also allow access to other equipment mounted on top. Recently, offshore drilling rigs have closed-in tanks for safety. The mud tank plays a critical role in mechanically removing destructive solids and sediment from costly land and offshore drilling systems.^[1]

A drilling rig normally has two tanks. A tank is sectioned off into compartments. A compartment may include a settling tank, sometimes called a sand trap, to allow sand and other solids in the drilling fluid to precipitate before it flows into the next compartment. Other compartments may have agitators, which are large fan blades stirring the fluid to prevent its contents from precipitating.

Mud tanks for solids control

Mud tanks are the base of solids control equipment. Mud tanks for solids control systems are divided into Square tanks and Cone-shaped tanks according to the shape of the tank bottom. The body of the tank is made by welding the steel plate and section, using the smooth cone-shape structure or the corrugated structure. The mud tank surface and passages are made of slip resistant steel plate and expanded steel plate.The mud tanks are made of the side steel pipe, all of the structure can be folded without barrier and pegged reliably. The surface of the tank is equipped with a water pipeline for cleaning the surface and equipment on the tank, it uses soaked zinc processing for the expanded steel plate. The ladder is made of channel steel to take responsibility the body, the foot board is made of expanded steel plate. The two-sided guard rail are installed the safe suspension hook. The mud tank is designed the standard shanty to prevent the sand and the rain. The pipeline is installed in the tank to preserve the warm air heat.

Mud tank quantity depends on mud process capacity requirements. Especially for mud storage, suitable for mud pump, drilling rig, etc.

References

1. ^ http://www.nrgm.com/