News

Author: Jim Hutmacher

Jim Hutmacher’s expertise has been recognized, and his article is now published in August 2023 issue of Water Well Journal! Check out Jim’s insightful piece on pages 20-22.

Stewart Krause has been selected as a recipient of the NGWA Manufacturer Special Recognition Award for 2022! Congratulations Stewart!

As I sit in front of my laptop preparing to write an article about Solids Control the first thought that pops into my head is the operation of solids control equipment and how to thoroughly and effectively describe how hydro cyclones, shakers and screens remove drill cuttings.

When writing our January 2019 cover story focusing on slurry handling and mud disposal a common theme came up that the general public does not know enough about the fluid used in HDD and microtunnelling applications.

For over 70 years Wyo-Ben, Inc. has been providing both bentonite-based products as well as polymer-based products to the various industries they support, including the trenchless industry.

We have been telling you for years now to use “the right stuff” when it comes to horizontal directional drilling (HDD) drilling fluids. Our industry has designed fluid additives specifically to address challenges in the HDD industry.

The inadvertent return of drilling fluid is common in horizontal directional drilling (HDD) projects, and though not harmful to the environment, inadvertent returns are undesirable for a number of reasons. The key to preventing inadvertent returns is to keep the downhole pressure as low as possible.

Drilling mud is a standard component of many horizontal directional drilling (HDD) construction projects. It plays a vital role in stabilizing the bore, removing the cuttings, as well as cooling and lubricating equipment.

The growth in HDD as a construction method has generated more drilling mud and raised the profile of disposal methods.

Drilling mud disposal can contribute a significant portion to the total cost of a project. In addition, misperceptions about drilling mud toxicity affect the public perception of trenchless construction and its impact on the environment.

Trenchless construction projects suffer from the same pressures as any construction project – those that make you fall behind schedule and increase cost. However, there is always a higher degree of uncertainty about factors affecting project execution when working underground and running a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) project. This uncertainty makes it even more critical to manage the variables within our control, like using the right materials and tools for the right job.

Drilling fluid (drilling mud) is an essential element of many trenchless construction projects. Over the years, the science of drilling fluid has developed extensively, allowing contractors to realize substantial benefits in the execution of a project.

Choosing the right fluid for the ground conditions as well as having effective fluid management and recycling systems are crucial elements of a successful project. The project will benefit from maximizing the uptime of the drilling rig, therefore reducing schedule and costs. At the same time, there will be minimal drilling fluid losses and thus, lower operating costs.

Well-used drilling fluid will be full of unwanted solid content from the borehole after a drilling operation. The drilling fluid picks up all the soil and rock cuttings generated during the drilling process and effectively removes them using the slurry system.

The problem is, what should be done with the solids-ridden drilling fluid? As most industry professionals know, disposing of used drilling fluid is a major challenge for the trenchless industry.

Misconceptions & Assumptions Dealing With Inadvertent Returns

Every single one of us in the HDD industry has been negatively impacted by Inadvertent Returns (also called IR). I stress “negatively impacted” because an IR is synonymous with loss – a loss of flow, a loss in hundreds to millions of dollars in repairs, clean up, and standby wages and the loss of business credibility. During this session, we will discuss the misconceptions & assumptions…

Trenchless construction projects suffer from the same pressures as any construction project – those that make you fall behind schedule and increase cost. However, there is always a higher degree of uncertainty about factors affecting project execution when working underground and running a horizontal directional drilling (HDD) project…

Drilling mud is a standard component of many horizontal directional drilling (HDD) construction projects. It plays a vital role in stabilizing the bore, removing the cuttings, as well as cooling and lubricating equipment.

The growth in HDD as a construction method has generated more drilling mud and raised the profile of disposal methods…

Wyo-Ben marks its 70th anniversary in 2021 and topping the list of what company officials are most proud of during this incredible run is that the bentonite company has remained family-owned and family-managed for the entirety of its existence….

New Wyo-Ben® website is now live. More to come as 70th year celebrations continue throughout 2021 #Wyo-Ben #drillingfluid #bentonite #InTheBiz70Years #mudexperts

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BILLINGS, Montana – Wyo-Ben® Inc.’s new website is live. The site’s homepage, which features aerial video footage of Wyo-Ben facilities and the surreally unique landscape formed by bentonite outcroppings called “pie pans,” gives users access to Wyo-Ben products, its Wyo-Ben Pet page, and online driller resources. Family owned and operated since 1951 and today a leading provider of drilling fluids to the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) market, Wyo-Ben celebrates its 70th anniversary this year delivering innovative, eco-friendly solutions ranging from cat litter to drilling fluids, slurries, fluid absorption materials and seals and caps used in the drilling and civil engineering industries, as well as products for wine clarification, for pelletizing taconite ore, and in the cleaning fluid used by the US Treasury to make bank notes.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BILLINGS, Montana – A new Wyo-Ben® Inc. website is now live. The bentonite production leader’s homepage now features stunning aerial footage of a Wyo-Ben production facility and bentonite “pie pan” outcroppings that create a surreal landscape at one of its Big Horn Basin resources. The homepage provides access to Wyo-Ben product line information, the Wyo-Ben Pet page, dealers and locations, and valuable driller resources including hole volume, annular velocity, HDD backreaming/pump volume, and mud recycling calculators.

The new website is just one of the ways Wyo-Ben is marking its 70th anniversary this year. It follows the release of an app that gives users convenient 24/7 access to Wyo-Ben resources no matter where they are.  “Customers value Wyo-Ben expertise,” said Tyson Smith, technical sales engineer at Wyo-Ben. “The app takes some of the most requested information,” Smith said, “and makes it available right on the user’s phone.”

The Wyo-Ben app is available at no cost in the App Store® and on Google Play. For more information on the app and Wyo-Ben products, users can visit the new Wyo-Ben website at www.wyoben.com or contact their local distributor directly.

70th Anniversary

Family owned and operated since 1951, Wyo-Ben is one of only five top bentonite producers. The clay’s unique properties allow Wyo-Ben to provide innovative, eco-friendly solutions ranging from drilling fluids, slurries, fluid absorption materials and seals and caps used in the drilling and civil engineering industries, to products for wine clarification, for pelletizing taconite ore, and for making the cleaning fluid used by the U.S. Treasury to make bank notes. Wyo-Ben is also a leading provider of drilling fluids to the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) market.

Wyo-Ben officials said they are planning in-person celebrations with employees of the milestone in the latter half of 2021, as the need for more restrictive social distancing precautions continues to decrease.

Later this year the website will also link users to a complete historical account of the company’s history and the evolution of the multiple, modern benefits of bentonite-based products. “The Wyo-Ben Chronicles focuses on our employees, shareholders and customers,” said Wyo-Ben President and CEO David Brown. “It goes through the very fascinating history of how a company in the base materials business 70 years ago came to be when there was very little use for bentonite and to bring it forward to today where there are so many uses for it. It’s really a compelling story.”

Brown credits founder Rockwood Brown Sr.’s foresight and business savvy for the company’s success. “Granddad was very, very industrious,” Brown said. “He was in a lot of businesses in addition to his law practice. He and his friends decided that bentonite, at some point, would be a good play.”

Rockwood founded the company now known as Wyo-Ben in Greybull, Wyoming, in 1951. Operations were based in a mill he had acquired decades earlier. Bentonite derives its name from the Fort Benton Shale Group in which it was first identified in 1890 near the Rock River in Wyoming. It is an aluminum silicate clay, whose unique properties were said to transform water into “miracle mud.”

Bentonite had seen small scale use in a wide variety of applications prior to that time, including dubious elixirs, women’s cosmetics, and spa applications such as facials and mud baths, the clay’s greatest commercial utility at that time may have been in manufacturing, where it improved the quality of casting molds.

Oil and water drillers, who at first used the clay as a grout to seal or cap a well, soon discovered the many benefits of adding bentonite to drilling fluid. As an additive, bentonite improved the drilling fluid’s ability to efficiently suspend and evacuate cuttings from the bore, stabilize bore hole walls, improving circulation and return, and lubricate a drill string’s components and cutting tools. Demand for the fledging company’s products for the drilling industry rose from 15,000 tons its first year to 50,000 tons by 1956.

In the following decades, the Greybull plant was upgraded and expanded several times. Two mills and processing facilities were added with access to additional bentonite reserves, the first in Lovell, Wyoming, in 1978 and a third in Thermopolis, Wyoming, by 1980.

Today’s Wyo-Ben

The company remains a top provider of drilling fluid solutions, which includes significant sales within the HDD industry. John Wornom, Wyo-Ben vice president of sales and marketing, said: “The trenchless market is very important to Wyo-Ben.”

Brown described today’s Wyo-Ben as a diversified materials supplier rather than as just a drilling fluid company. “Wyo-Ben continues to grow in the traditional bentonite markets to the extent that those markets are growing, but there are also new markets.”

Brown said the booming success of the company prior to the ‘80s oil crisis and its ability to survive it is testimony to the industry savvy and leadership of the founder’s children: Keith, Neal, Rockwood Jr. and Barbara Brown. Together with R.E. Dansby, a former Halliburton employee, the Browns formed the Wyo-Ben Products Co known today for its innovation and responsiveness to customer needs across an increasing wide array of markets.

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About Wyo-Ben

Wyo-Ben, Inc. is a privately held, family-owned business. In business since 1951, the company is a leading producer of Wyoming Bentonite Clay-based products. Wyo-Ben materials are used globally in applications such as oil, gas, and water-well drilling; environmental construction and remediation; hazardous waste treatment; cat litter; cosmetics; pharmaceuticals; and many other industrial- and consumer-related products. Headquartered in Billings, Montana, Wyo-Ben mines from its reserves in the Big Horn Basin region of Wyoming and processes a multitude of products from its three plant facilities which serve a global marketplace.

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