Portable Rock Muffler Tank for Well Testing Purpose

Abstract

During Unit 2 Drilling program in Wayang Windu Geothermal Power Plant, West Java, a well output test was conducted soon after a well was drilled. There are many purposes of well output tests, such as cleaning the well bore from remaining mud or dirt during drilling, determining the fluid chemical characteristic by fluid sampling, and determining the new well capacity.
The well testing process at Wayang Windu is designed for either two phase steam/brine or dry steam wells. Two phase wells are tested using a portable atmospheric separator vessel. This allows the brine to be separated from the steam and collected in a well site pond while the steam is discharged directly from the atmospheric separator. Noise emission is acceptable as two phase discharge produces less noise than dry steam. Dry steam wells which may contain small quantities of water and drilling mud are tested using a rock muffler to absorb the noise and avoid disturbance to the surrounding community and well site drilling operation.
Initially, well pads were constructed with permanent rock mufflers designed for well testing. These proved to be difficult to maintain and were determined to be more expensive than a portable rock muffler. If it’s assumed the portable rock muffler is used in two well pads interchangeably, then the cost efficiency will be approximately 45%, while maintenance cost can be reduced up to 50%.