Hands on Support Across The Lifespan Of Your Geothermal Drilling Project
Whether you’re looking to boost the efficiency of a rotary drilling operation, filter briney formation water or find an eco-friendly way to recycle unwanted drill cuttings, our engineers are standing by to support your project.
We’ve been supplying industry-leading separation & filtration services to oil and gas clients for over 30 years and we’re using our hard-won expertise to support Geothermal drilling contractors operating in the UK, Europe and the wider world.
A Typical Geothermal Drilling Site – Supported By Separo Equipment And Services
Optimising Drilling Performance
Drilling geothermal wells can be prohibitively expensive – accounting for 30 - 50% of the cost of establishing a geothermal power plant. To cut costs and improve the efficiency of your drilling operations, it’s essential that you employ a solids control specialist to extend the life of your drilling fluids and optimise drill performance.
We offer proven solids control services for geothermal contractors; installing and running specialist equipment in situ, so that you can:
- Cut down on unnecessary drilling waste
- Reduce the need for expensive chemical reagents
- Double or triple the life of your drilling fluid
- Significantly increase your rate of penetration (ROP)
A well-managed solids control operation also minimises the risk of formation damage and increases the repair interval for critical infrastructure which means less delays and smoother drilling.
Case Study
Dual Centrifuge System & Flocculation Unit For Geothermal Well Drilling Project
Learn how Separo's Solids Control Services (SCS) division supplied a dual centrifuge system and flocculation unit for the drilling of a 5275m geothermal well in the UK
Managing Your Drill Cuttings
Boring a geothermal well always produces drill cuttings, but there are cost-effective and eco-friendly ways to manage this waste. More and more companies are using unwanted drill cuttings as raw material for roads and bricks, and there are tried and tested ways of recovering them for reuse in future drilling projects.
We have the industry-knowledge and experience needed to manage your drill cuttings from the point of production, right through to the moment they’re shipped out for disposal or reuse. We can:
- Monitor cutting production on-site
- Collect cuttings using a high-capacity cutting transfer system
- Organise skips to collect your cuttings
- Arrange to have your cuttings reused or recycled
Effective cuttings management can significantly reduce the need for complicated and expensive logistics, and minimise the environmental impact of your drilling project.
Proven Pit Cleaning Services
Managing reserve pits can be a real headache for geothermal contractors. They’re an ecological disaster in the making, and conventional pit cleaning services can be very expensive.
Luckily, we offer a safe and reliable solution that will reduce the costs associated with geothermal drilling projects and ensure compliance with environmental legislation. As separation experts with over 30 years of experience, we’ve developed cost-effective techniques that allow us to clean up your reserve pits in a way that:
- Minimises the need for personnel to handle hazardous substances
- Allows you to recover and reuse valuable drilling fluids
- Enables you to easily separate and remove hazardous waste
- Ensures compliance with relevant environmental legislation
We’re also happy to handle all elements of waste fluid disposal and can be relied on to ensure a quick and clean end to your drilling project.
Treating Produced Water
Produced water is an unavoidable by-product of the geothermal drilling process, and environmental legislation means that it has to be treated properly before you dispose of it. As filtration experts, we’re well-placed to help you manage produced water - filtering at source to avoid the need for costly logistics or expensive chemical cleaning solutions.
We manage produced water with our proprietary SepSorb system; an effective and efficient solution that uses recyclable filter media to remove excess saline, sand, mud, oil and other impurities. SepSorb units are:
- Small and easy to transport
- Quick to install (1-2 days average installation)
- Simple to run and maintain
- Safe, with no need for media handling
SepSorb installations can also be scaled up and down to suit your needs, with multiple units being run in parallel to handle high flow rates or heavily contaminated fluids.
In Situ Slop Treatment
Effective slop treatment is key to maximising the efficiency of your geothermal drilling project. You’ll need to filter out and recover any drilling fluids, remove chemical contaminants from the drill floor and clean up any unwanted pollutants before you can return it to the environment.
This process can be prohibitively expensive, but we offer in situ slop treatment that eliminates the need to transfer untreated wastewater to specialist treatment facilities. Our proven slop treatment processes are carried out by qualified engineers, using bespoke machinery to:
- Filter out any sediments or complex emulsions
- Recover valuable drilling fluids
- Cut down on the need to store and transport slop
- Reduce the carbon footprint of your drilling operation
Our slop treatment equipment is easy to transport, setup and run -- perfect for sites in out-of-the-way locations.
Want to discuss a
Geothermal
Drilling Project?
Our team of engineers is standing by to support your project. Get in touch to talk to our team about solids control services, wastewater management or any of the ancillary services mentioned on this page.
Managing Waste & Effluent
Our expertise extends beyond the slop and produced water normally generated by geothermal drilling operations. Over the past 30 years, we’ve developed the skills and expertise to remove harmful contaminants from all forms of industrial waste water.
A Blend of Advanced Equipment and Software
Our industrial waste services (IWS) division uses a blend of advanced equipment and software to decontaminate liquid waste and ensure that it’s ready for disposal injection at source. This includes effluent contaminated with:
- Heavy metals
- Toxic chemicals
- Drilling fluids
- NAPLs like oil
Our effluent management services have been used to great effect in energy-adjacent industries and are the perfect match for long-term geothermal drilling projects.
Helping You Meet Environmental Rules & Regulations
Drilling operations are heavily regulated in most parts of the world, and your drilling project will normally be subject to legislation that’s designed to minimise the environmental impact of your activities.
We’re well-placed to help you meet or exceed most environmental standards, codes and regulations by cleaning up unwanted effluent from your site and substantially improving the efficiency of your drilling operations.
We can also help you cut down on the need to transport waste material to specialist plants, which can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of your geothermal drilling project.
