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Home > KOSUN News >
What factors affect the horizontal screw centrifuge?
Sep 10, 2025
The horizontal screw centrifuge mainly consists of a drum, a screw, a differential system, a liquid level baffle, a drive system and a control system, etc. It is a dedicated solid-liquid separation equipment designed in accordance with the characteristics of petroleum drilling fluid. It can complete various processes such as feeding, centrifugal sedimentation and unloading at full speed. It is mainly used for recovering barite, removing fine solids, reducing the solid content of drilling fluid, controlling the density and viscosity of drilling fluid, ensuring the performance of drilling fluid and playing an important role in rapid drilling. The centrifuge separates the drilling suspension by the principle of centrifugal sedimentation. The suspension enters the drum through the liquid outlet hole in the screw conveyor from the feed pipe. Under the action of centrifugal force, the solid particles are pushed to the inner wall of the drum and discharged through the slag discharge port at the small end of the drum by the blades on the screw conveyor. The liquid phase overflows through the overflow hole at the large end of the drum. This cycle is repeated continuously to achieve the purpose of continuous separation. The sedimentation centrifuge belongs to the category of horizontal screw centrifuges, and its full name is horizontal screw sedimentation centrifuge.
The horizontal screw centrifuge mainly consists of a drum, a screw, a differential system, a liquid level baffle, a drive system and a control system, etc. It is a dedicated equipment for solid-liquid separation in oil drilling fluids. It can continuously complete the processes of feeding, centrifugal sedimentation and unloading at full speed. It is widely used in recovering barite, removing fine solids, reducing the solid content of drilling fluid, regulating the density and viscosity of drilling fluid, and plays a key role in maintaining the performance of drilling fluid and ensuring rapid drilling. Its working principle is centrifugal sedimentation: The suspension enters the drum through the feed pipe. Under the action of centrifugal force, solid particles are pushed to the inner wall and discharged from the small end slag discharge port by the spiral blades, while the liquid phase overflows through the large end overflow hole, thus achieving continuous separation.
The factors influencing the performance of horizontal screw centrifuges include the mechanical structure itself and its adjustable operating parameters, which can be specifically classified into non-adjustable mechanical factors, adjustable mechanical factors and process factors.
Non-adjustable mechanical factors
Drum diameter and effective length: They directly affect the settlement area. The larger the diameter and length, the stronger the processing capacity.
Drum semi-cone Angle: An increase in the cone Angle helps improve the clarification effect, but it will reduce the efficiency of slag conveying and dewatering.
Pitch: If the pitch is too large, it will increase the risk of material blockage, reduce the number of screw turns, and easily cause vibration. For difficult-to-separate materials, a smaller pitch is recommended.
Spiral type: It is divided into counter-flow type and co-flow type. The counter-flow feed inlet is located at the junction of the sedimentation zone and the drying zone, which is prone to cause the already settled particles to float up again and has a certain interference with the separation effect.
Adjustable mechanical factors
Drum speed: The speed affects the magnitude of the centrifugal force. Increasing the rotational speed can enhance the solid-phase compaction degree, but if it is too high, it will damage the floc structure, reduce the dewatering effect, and at the same time increase energy consumption and equipment wear.
Differential velocity (differential ratio) : Increasing the differential velocity can enhance the sludge discharge capacity, but it will shorten the dewatering time, leading to an increase in the moisture content of the mud cake and a decline in the quality of the filtrate.
The thickness of the liquid ring layer can be achieved by adjusting the height of the liquid level baffle. Increasing the thickness can expand the sedimentation area and improve the quality of the filtrate, but the length of the drying zone shortens and the solid content of the mud cake decreases. Reducing the thickness is the opposite. It is necessary to pay attention to keeping the heights of each baffle consistent to prevent equipment vibration.
Process factors
Before sludge dewatering, an appropriate amount of organic high-molecular flocculant (such as PAM) is usually added to improve its dewatering performance. The selection of chemicals should take into account the characteristics of the sludge and the operating conditions of the equipment. Some flocculants that perform well in experiments have poor effects in practical applications, often due to their mismatch with the operating conditions of the equipment.
