Method for recovering valuable drilling mud materials using a binary fluid

A process for recovering target recycle materials from drilling fluid provided by a hydrocarbon well drilling operation where the drilling fluid also carries a substantial volume of various sized solid drill cuttings and the target recycle materials are used in drilling fluid to achieve a desired function and the target recycle materials are solids that are not easily separated from drill cuttings, the process of recovering the target recycle material comprising the steps of:

• (a) separating drilling fluid recovered from wellbore drilling to produce at least one solids stream and a liquid stream, wherein the solids stream includes a substantial amount of the target recycle material and an amount of non-target solid drill cuttings;
• (b) blending the solids stream with a binary fluid to form a density separation fluid where the binary fluid is separate and distinct from the drilling fluid and has a selected design density range that provides gravity separation based on density or enhanced mass separation;
• (c) separating the target recycle materials from the non-target solids in a binary separation step based on density or enhanced mass separation;
• (d) directing the target recycle materials to a liquid/solid separation step to recover the target recycle materials and direct collected binary fluid back to the binary separation step;
• and
• (e) directing the non-target solids to a liquid/solid separation step for the elimination of the non-target recycle materials and direct collected binary fluid back to the binary separation step.

A process for recovering first, low density, target recycle materials and second, high density, recycle materials from drilling fluid provided by a hydrocarbon well drilling operation where the drilling fluid also carries a substantial volume of various sized solid drill cuttings and the target recycle materials are used in drilling fluid to achieve a desired function and the target recycle materials are solids that are not easily separated from the drill cuttings, the process of recovering the lost circulation material comprising the steps of:

• (a) separating drilling fluid recovered from wellbore drilling to produce a first solids stream comprising primarily first target recycle materials along with solid drill cuttings of larger size, a second solids stream comprising primarily second target recycle material along with drill cuttings of a smaller size and a third stream comprising primarily liquid, wherein each of the first and second streams comprise a substantial amount of the target recycle material and a substantial amount of non-target solid drill cuttings;
• (b) blending the first solids stream with a first binary fluid to form a first density separation fluid where the first binary fluid is separate and distinct from the drilling fluid and has a selected design density range that is close to or between the densities of the drill cuttings and the first target recycle material;
• (c) separating the first target recycle materials from the non-target solid drill cuttings in a first binary separation step based on density or enhanced mass separation;
• (d) directing the first target recycle materials to a first liquid/solid separation step to recover the first target recycle materials and direct collected first binary fluid to a first binary fluid rejuvenation step;
• (e) directing the non-target drill cuttings from the first binary separation step to a second liquid/solid separation step for the elimination of the non-solid drill cuttings and direct collected binary fluid to the first binary fluid rejuvenation step;
• (f) rejuvenating the first binary fluid to eliminate contaminants and diluents and direct rejuvenated first binary fluid to the first binary separation step having a density within the selected design density range.
• (g) blending the second solids stream with a second binary fluid to form a second density separation fluid where the second binary fluid is separate and distinct from the drilling fluid and has a selected design density range that is close to or between the densities of the drill cuttings and the second target recycle material;
• (h) separating the second target recycle materials from the non-target solid drill cuttings in a second binary separation step based on density or enhanced mass separation;
• (i) directing the second target recycle materials to a third liquid/solid separation step to recover the second target recycle materials and direct collected second binary fluid to a second binary fluid rejuvenation step;
• (j) directing the non-target drill cuttings from the second binary separation step to a fourth liquid/solid separation step for the elimination of the non-target solid drill cuttings and direct collected second binary fluid to the second binary fluid rejuvenation step;
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• (k) rejuvenating the second binary fluid to eliminate contaminants and diluents and direct rejuvenated second binary fluid to the second binary separation step having a density within the selected design density range.