System and method for separating solids from fluids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10029213-B2
Application number	US-201113583309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2011
Priority date	Mar 10, 2010
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

A system for separating solids from fluid including a solid-laden fluid may include a base fluid, a first separator configured to receive the solid-laden fluid and separate the fluid into a solids portion and an effluent, and a membrane separator configured to receive the effluent and separate the effluent into a permeate and a concentrate. A method for separating solids from fluid may include obtaining a solid-laden fluid, wherein the solid-laden fluid comprises a base fluid, feeding the solid-laden fluid through a centrifuge, removing at least a portion of high gravity solids from the solid-laden fluids, flowing the solid-laden fluid through a membrane separator, removing at least a portion of low gravity solids from the solid-laden fluid, and collecting a permeate from the membrane separator.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system for processing fluids, the system comprising:
a first pump in fluid communication with a used fluid pit and positioned downstream with respect to the used fluid pit;
a multichannel membrane separator in fluid communication with the used fluid pit, wherein the first pump transfers solid-laden fluid from the used fluid pit to a first opening at a first end of the multichannel membrane separator and the multichannel membrane separator is tube shaped having a length defined between the first end and an opposite second end having a second opening and having an inner surface and an outer surface disposed between the first and second openings, wherein the multichannel member further comprises a plurality of pores extending from the inner surface to the outer surface between the first and second openings that are configured to separate the solid-laden fluid into a permeate and a concentrate as the permeate passes from the inner surface through the plurality of pores to the outer surface of the multichannel membrane separator;
a recirculation loop configured to return the concentrate from the multichannel membrane separator back to the multichannel membrane separator and comprising a second pump configured to transfer the concentrate in the recirculation loop back to the multichannel membrane separator and a heat exchanger configured to control a temperature of the concentrate exiting the multichannel membrane separator, wherein the heat exchanger is separately and independently positioned within the recirculation loop upstream with respect to the second pump of the recirculation loop and downstream with respect to the first pump configured to transfer the solid-laden fluid from the used fluid pit to the multichannel membrane separator; and
a clean fluid pit in fluid communication with the multichannel membrane separator and receiving the permeate from the multichannel membrane separator.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of openings range between 0.1 and 1.0 microns in size.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second type of separator in fluid communication with the used fluid pit and the multichannel membrane separator.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the second type of separator comprises at least one of a shaker, a centrifuge, and a hydrocyclone.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a recirculation loop configured to return the permeate to the multichannel membrane separator.

6. A method of processing fluids, the method comprising:
transferring a fluid having solid particles therein from a used fluid pit to a membrane separator through a first opening at a first end of the membrane separator, wherein the membrane separator has (i) a second opening at a second end located opposite with respect to the first end, (ii) an inner surface and an outer surface disposed between the first and second openings, and (iii) pores extending from the inner surface to the outer surface between the first and second openings;
separating the fluid into a permeate and a concentrate by passing fluid from the inner surface through the pores to the outer surface of the membrane separator, wherein said fluid that passed through the pores of the membrane separator is the permeate;
circulating the concentrate exiting an exit location of the membrane separator through an independent heat exchanger separately positioned downstream with respect to the exit location of the membrane separator and a first pump that transfers the fluid having solid particles from the used fluid pit to the membrane separator;
controlling a temperature of the concentrate with the heat exchanger to increase a membrane flux by 90%;
recirculating the concentrate through the membrane separator via a second pump that is downstream with respect to the first pump and the heat exchanger; and
transferring the permeate to a clean fluid pit.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising removing solid particles greater than 20 microns from the fluid.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the permeate comprises substantially no solid particles greater than 1.0 micron.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the permeate comprises substantially no solid particles greater than 0.5 micron.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the permeate comprises substantially no solid particles greater than 0.1 micron.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising measuring a concentration of solid particles in the fluid.

12. The method of claim 6 , further comprising transferring the permeate from the clean fluid pit to an active fluid system.

13. The method of claim 6 , further comprising increasing the temperature of the fluid.

14. The method of claim 6 , further comprising back-pulsing permeate through the membrane separator.

15. The method of claim 6 , further comprising providing a flow of air to a feed end of the membrane separator.

16. The method of claim 6 , decreasing a density of the fluid.

17. The method of claim 6 , wherein the fluid comprises a used completion fluid.

Assignees

• Dixit Rahul
• Kapila Mukesh
• Wu Yanling
• Mi Llc

Inventors

• Dixit Rahul
• Kapila Mukesh
• Wu Yanling

Classifications

• B01D65/02 Primary

  Membrane cleaning or sterilisation {; Membrane regeneration} · CPC title

• B01D2311/08

  Specific process operations in the concentrate stream · CPC title

• B01D2321/04

  Backflushing · CPC title

• B01D2311/04

  Specific process operations in the feed stream; Feed pretreatment · CPC title

• B01D2311/2676

  Centrifugal separation · CPC title