Important test for determination of the drilled solids content of the mud and therefore for identification of requirements for dilution and / or changes to solids removal equipment set-up.
In the test, a known volume of mud is distilled from a heated chamber, by way of a condenser to be collected in a measuring cylinder.
Only the liquids are distilled, all mud solids and salt are left in the retort chamber.
Equipment
A 10 ml retort is used. A 50 ml retort is preferred if available.
A 10 ml measuring cylinder.
Reporting
|
Parameter |
Unit |
Accuracy |
|
Water |
% v/v |
± 0.5 |
|
Corrected Solids |
% v/v |
± 0.1 |
|
Salt |
% v/v |
± 0.1 |
|
High Gravity Solids |
ppb |
± 5 |
|
Low Gravity Solids |
ppb |
± 5 |
Sources of Error
The apparatus must be absolutely dry before proceeding with the test.
Equipment must be calibrated regularly to ensure that:
cylinder capacity is exactly 10 mls and
temperature is high enough to distil across all liquid oil based mud components.
These are the two most common sources of error. Weigh the empty and full cells before and after the test.
All air must be removed from sample and sample chamber must be absolutely full as indicated by discharge of fluid from the vent hole when positioning the lid.
Solids must be corrected for salt content in all muds.
When testing oil based muds, the sample must be at ambient laboratory temperature before the test takes place and the distilled volumes must not be measured until cooled to ambient temperature.
Chlorides, Lime and Calcium tests must be carried out to permit the lime and salt content correction for solids to be determined.