High Shear Mixing in the Drilling and Completion Fluids Industry
Industrial mixing is vital in the oil and gas industry, serving as the backbone of high-quality oil and water-based mud and completion fluid production. This process is crucial for meeting stringent regulatory standards, minimizing environmental impact, and optimizing production costs. Effective mixing underpins the efficiencies and success required for cost-effective hydrocarbon production, meeting global energy demands.
Oil Based Mud (OBM)
Properly engineered OBMs have high electrical stability, sufficient carrying capacity, and should protect the wellbore and surrounding formation. This has to be achieved cost-effectively and within a timely manner. All of this can be achieved through proper liquid mud mixing techniques. Utilizing the Bard & Bard Mix Plant, with its patented protected turbine design, pump manifold, and gun line nozzle, all OBM can be mixed in 25% of the time required by traditional mix techniques.
The most critical features of water-based mud are its ability to provide effective and environmentally responsible drilling solutions while meeting performance, regulatory, and safety requirements. This ensures that drilling operations can proceed efficiently and sustainably.
Liquid Mud Plant (LMP) Design & Construction
Bard & Bard and its sister company, Turbine Shear Technologies, has a combined 40+ years of experience in liquid mud mixing. Together, we have the expertise needed to design and construct liquid mud plants for all global fluid service needs. LMP design and construction services include but is not limited to:
- Equipment Selection – The Bard & Bard Mix Plant is at the core of all LMP designs. The efficient mixing technology lowers the total cost of production and enables fast and effective liquid mud production
- Storage Facilities – plants can be scaled depending on local storage needs, and all storage tanks, linings, and containment can be designed, manufactured, and installed as necessary
- Plant safety – fire suppression, containment, emergency shutdown, eye wash, and fumigation, can all be implemented based on plant specifications and owner/operator requirements
- Civil Engineering – all piping layout and routing will be done by our team to ensure the proper diversion of product is cycled and made available for export/pick-up as needed
- Instrumentation, Control, & Electrical – local control solutions, variable frequency drives, and motor control centers can be made available to provide an energy-efficient, safe, and fully automated liquid mud plant
- Commissioning – Bard & Bard will together start up and commission the facility to ensure the plant is operating as designed before transition operations to the local fluid service provider
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Standard Units for Mud Mixing: 110, 220 and 440 BBL
Our high shear mixing systems offer the ultimate solutions for OBM, SMB, or WBM plants. Mounted on a single axle chassis, these systems are easily transported via standard trucks, avoiding costly oversized permits. A separate, multifunctional prewired pump skid can be connected and fully operational within hours, ensuring efficient setup and operation.
- Save time and man power
- Strategic valve placement to optimize operator efficiency
- One man can produce up to 400 bbl of oil base mud in as little as 3 hours
- Adding bulk barite is extremely fast and accurate using the scale upgrade by eliminated timely trial and error
- Gelling clays is nearly instantons
- 110, 220, and 453 BBL
- ¼” carbon steel tank shell for optimal fluid movement, coated with “Duraplate UHS” protective liner for lasting protection
- Rear stairs with full length 6’ catwalk
- Obstruction free interior for undistributed mixing
- Fluid return lines to rear of tank and staggered roll line nozzles for maximum sweep of the entire tank to eliminate all dead spots
- Vertical 60HP High Shear Turbine Heads
- Two (2) 8 x 6 x 14 Mission Magnum Centrifugal Mud pumps
- Pumps can be operated in series or parallel
- Unique manifold system allows for the pumps to operate the mix tank, serve as transfer pumps, product load-out, or roll storage tanks independently or simultaneously.
- Pumps are powered by two (2) 100HP explosion proof motors prewired to an explosion proof control panel equipped w/ soft-start controllers and generator or hard line ready.
- Two (2) 2” valved connections for emulsifiers/wetting agents or mixing components for immediate introduction into the fluid stream
- Two (2) 8” suction connections for inline frac tank hook p or oil and water supply tanks
- Large capacity induction hopper for dry products
- Integrated thermometer for tank temperature monitoring
- Low-profile weight indicating load cells to provide precision measurements of ingoing/outgoing products, includes 6 load cells, 24” diameter 1” steel mounting plates and digital weigh indicator
- Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) for a full range of pump control that include ease of priming, smooth controlled load out at lower speeds, faster mixing of lightweight products and easy handling of exceptionally heavy muds
- Air-actuated valve control system from centrally located control panel
- 500 bbl. round bottom frac tanks
- Round bottom for better rolling with no dead spots
- Alternating sweep lines for maximum coverage
- Modular Design
- Scale up volume as your business grows
- Specially designed storage tanks can be added via a manifold to offer complete mud mixing and storage solutions