Importance

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Abstract

A process and system is provided permitting the recovery of solid particulate material, particularly solid copolymer beads, from a drilling fluid which also contains drilled solids of the same and larger size as the particulate material. The drilling fluid returns are passed to a separator, such as a shale shaker, which screens from the fluid a major proportion of the drilled solids along with the particulate material. The latter fraction is then passed into a vessel containing a weighted liquid having a specific gravity less than that of the drilled solids but greater than that of the particulate material. In such vessel, the particulate material is allowed to rise to the surface of the liquid while the drilled solids settle therein. The particulate material can then be skimmed from the upper portion of the vessel and returned to the well for recirculation therein. To conserve the weighted liquid, the particulate material removed from the vessel can be passed through a separator to separate it from any weighted liquid so that the latter can be returned to the vessel. Similarly, the drilled solids removed from the vessel can likewise be separated from any weighted liquid removed with them and the liquid returned to the vessel.

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First Claim