Borehole renovation for a food manufacturer
This case study details a project undertaken to drill a 720mm borehole for a food processing facility to rectify issues left by a former drilling company. We successfully drilled a new borehole to pump 120m3/hr.
The problem with the original borehole:
The original borehole produced large volumes of suspended solids when running at high yield.
This was probably caused by the original construction not isolating the soft and poorly consolidated strata that sits above the Lincolnshire Limestone. The borehole also had an artesian head at surface (flowing artesian) in excess of 80m3/hr and 0.5 bar.
Drilling works:
To maintain control of drilling fluids and the artesian head, the borehole was drilled using rotary mud flush and a casing preventer at surface. The site would have flooded if there were no preventative measures in place to control the artesian flow.
The borehole:
- Starter casing set at 810mm diameter to 2m depth
- Drilled diameter at 720mm to 18m depth and 508mm diameter steel casing pressure grouted into position
- Drilled diameter from 18m to 55m at 485mm and 406mm diameter steel casing pressure grouted into position
- Drilled from 55m to 84.5m depth at 400mm diameter
- Cased with 304mm uPVC casing and screen
- Geology: Lincolnshire Limestone
Borehole development:
After drilling, the borehole was developed with 20% hydrochloric acid to improve yields.
Following successful completion of the drilling and an initial yield test, acidisation has improved both the yield and borehole performance, thus running costs for the factory. The borehole pump now has capability to pump at over 120m3/hr (33L/sec).
It's not uncommon that we're called to solve water borehole issues encountered by other companies - our decades of experience mean there's no issue we haven't encountered and overcome. Therefore, whether you have an uncontrollable artesian water fountain flooding your site or a borehole pumping poorly, call our team for an immediate response. We're confident we can solve any commercial or domestic water borehole problem.
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