Solid-Liquid Separation of Waste Petroleum Drilling Mud in Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador

• Main Author: Nejad, Hesam Hassan
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2018
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/13384/; https://research.library.mun.ca/13384/1/13-14_WASTE_NEJAD.pdf; https://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/media/production/memorial/administrative/the-harris-centre/media-library/reports/13-14_WASTE_NEJAD.pdf

Waste drilling mud is the second largest waste volume produced in the oil and gas explorationindustry after wastewater and cannot be disposed of or landfilled without proper treatment to meetregulation requirements. Several contaminants are present in the waste drilling mud and cuttings,including petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other hazardous materials typicallyoriginating from the base drilling fluids. Strict environmental regulations are in place regardingthe disposal of the waste drilling mud and cuttings to minimize their effect on theenvironment.Therefore, the waste drilling mud and cuttings must be properly treated before being released intothe environment. Different technologies have been proposed for waste drilling mud remediation;however, most of them are unable to meet the strict environmental regulation limits.