CPC G01N 1/34 (2013.01) [E21B 21/066 (2013.01); E21B 49/005 (2013.01); E21B 49/02 (2013.01); E21B 21/01 (2013.01)] | 11 Claims |
1. A method for cleaning drill cuttings, the method comprising:
collecting surfaced drill cutting samples from a shale shaker or a wellhead;
filtering the surfaced drill cutting samples through a sieve having a first mesh size to remove cavings from the surfaced drill cuttings so that drill cuttings are obtained from the surfaced drill cuttings;
placing the drill cuttings in a plurality of cylindrically shaped sieve baskets that are each disposed in one of a plurality of cylindrically shaped vessels;
filling the vessels with brine if water-based-mud was used in drilling the drill cutting samples;
filling the vessel with diesel if oil-based mud was used in drilling the drill cutting samples; and
removing contaminants from the drill cuttings by sonicating the sieve baskets with ultrasonic waves from a sonicator while simultaneously mechanically shaking the sieve baskets with a mechanical means.
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