The situation

The current competitor shakers operating with OEM screens were unable to keep up with current production demands. Due to the crown deck design, the shaker’s inability to evenly distribute fluid across the screens resulted in excessive fluid loss over the end of the shaker. The inability to ‘screen up’ resulted in excessive solids bypassing the shaker and making their way into the fluid storage tanks. This resulted in expensive tank cleaning every three months, reduced fluid storage capacities and the inability to process at higher feed rates due to excessive solids loading on the M-I SWACO centrifuge.

The solution

Upon examination of the process, it was determined that the M-I SWACO MEERKAT shaker would alleviate the current production issues. The pretensioned screen design, along with the inclined screen decks, allows for optimized fluid handling. The adjustable deck angle enables the shaker to increase fluids handling capacity. And increased solids retention time allows the recovery of cleaner fluids and discard of more solids. In combination with two primary vibrator motors and one secondary vibrator motor on the dual-motion shaker, the MEERKAT shaker produces up to 7 G of vibration in Linear Mode or up to 6 G of vibration in Elliptical Mode. This allows the shaker to handle a wider spectrum of fluids and solids. The following package was assembled based on production demands, project economics.

MEERKAT shaker package

• MEERKAT shaker
• Vent hood
• Shaker stand with cuttings slide

The results

Proven field knowledge from M-I SWACO on shakers and screens has proven that screening up and maintaining processing rates are possible. Additionally, operators were able to increase the M-I SWACO 518 centrifuge feed rate without compromising the quality of the processed fluids.