Drill cuttings are shards of rock resulting from deep sea drilling. The cuttings are created when the teeth of a drill bit cut through the seabed in order to bore a hole. These boreholes are used to access oil and gas deposits below.
The majority of cuttings taken from a bore hole are sand and shale. The total composition of the drill cuttings depends on the location of the drill and the type of sediment and rock encountered. Other cutting materials include barite, caustic soda KOH, potassium sulphate, sodium bicarbonate, and glycol.
Exploration drills use drilling fluids made of water-based muds to bore holes into the ground. These drilling fluids can be used for land and sea drills. Simple boreholes and can also be used to make wells. The drilling fluids are used to help keep the drill bit cool and clean while also helping to prevent formation fluids from entering the borehole.
The process of breaking up the rock and sediment to make the borehole puts drill cuttings into the drilling fluid. The cuttings are separated from the drilling fluid using shale shakers. Removing solids such as drill cuttings reduces drilling costs. Once clear of the cuttings, the drilling fluids flow back into the drilling fluid system.
