Superheated Steam Distillation for Treatment of Drill Cuttings Contaminated with Oil Based Drilling Fluids
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Faculty of Science and Technology MASTER’S THESIS Study program/ Specialization: Spring semester, 2014 Environmental Technology/ Offshore Environmental Engineering Restricted access Writer: MATTHEW WINTERBOURNE ………………………………………… (Writer’s signature) Faculty supervisor: Professor Torleiv Bilstad External supervisor(s): Trond Aarestrup Thesis title: SUPERHEATED STEAM DISTILLATION FOR TREATMENT OF DRILL CUTTINGS CONTAMINATED WITH OIL BASED DRILLING FLUIDS Credits (ECTS): 30 ECTS Key words: Superheated, steam, distillation, offshore, drill Pages: 85 cuttings, treatment, oil, gas, environmental discharge, retained oil on cuttings, + enclosure: 23 environmental regulations, Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures, Universal Gas Law, temperature, boiling point, immiscible, Stavanger, June 26, 2014 miscible, mixtures, vapor pressure, extraction SUPERHEATED STEAM DISTILLATION FOR TREATMENT OF DRILL CUTTINGS CONTAMINATED WITH OIL BASED DRILLING FLUIDS MATTHEW WINTERBOURNE FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL SCIENCE OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 2014 ABSTRACT Offshore drilling activities for the oil and gas industry produce massive quantities of waste material including drill cuttings contaminated with oil based drilling fluids/muds. In offshore Norway and other Oslo Paris Commission (OSPAR) signatory countries contaminated drill cuttings are permitted for discharge if they contain less than one percent retained oil on cuttings. There are very few currently available offshore treatment technologies that can meet the stringent retained oil on cuttings requirements. This thesis describes the utilization of the Ideal Gas Law and Dalton's Law of Partial Pressure in an oil distillation process using superheated steam. The overall objective is to develop a technology which can be used for offshore treatment of drill cuttings to remove retained oil on cuttings. In the thesis, the superheated steam distillation process is performed in a laboratory setup, and deviations between the standardized reference results and the results from the superheated steam trials are discussed. The results of the superheated steam distillation experiments clearly show that the base oil distillation rates using superheated steam are significantly increased when compared to conventional distillation at 100 ⁰C. The superheated steam distillation technology shows promise for potential use in the offshore treatment of drill cuttings to remove retained oil on cuttings. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the support and guidance provided by Trond Aarestrup, Torleiv Bilstad and Evgenia Protasova throughout the entire process of writing my master’s thesis. I would also like to acknowledge my girlfriend Ingrid Midtun for keeping me on task and motivated during my thesis project. Last but not least I would like to acknowledge my parents Gail and Tom Winterbourne for their unwavering support and love without them none of this would have been possible. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................. ix NOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................................................ x ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................... xii 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem of Offshore Drill Cuttings Contaminated with Oil Based Drilling Fluids/Muds ........... 1 1.2 Use of Superheated Steam Distillation for Offshore Treatment of Contaminated Drill Cuttings. 3 1.3 Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 3 2 CHAPTER TWO: OFFSHORE DRILL CUTTINGS THEORY ....................................................... 4 2.1 Offshore Drilling Process ......................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Drilling Muds/ Fluids ............................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Aqueous versus Non-Aqueous Drilling Muds/Fluids .............................................................. 10 2.4 Drill Cuttings ......................................................................................................................... 12 2.5 Drill Cutting Environmental Discharge Regulations ............................................................... 14 2.5.1 Norway and the North Sea .............................................................................................. 14 2.5.2 United States and the Gulf of Mexico ............................................................................. 15 2.5.3 Canada ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.5.4 Australia ......................................................................................................................... 16 2.5.5 Brazil ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.6 Conventional Drill Cuttings Treatment Technology ................................................................ 17 2.6.1 Shale shakers .................................................................................................................. 19 2.6.2 Hydro-cyclones .............................................................................................................. 21 2.6.3 Decanting Centrifuges .................................................................................................... 22 2.6.4 Cuttings Dryers .............................................................................................................. 23 2.7 Transport of Cuttings Onshore for Treatment ......................................................................... 24 iii 2.7.1 Rotary Kiln Thermal Desorption ..................................................................................... 26 2.7.2 Land Treatment Bioremediation ..................................................................................... 26 2.7.3 Solidification and Stabilization ....................................................................................... 27 2.8 Emerging Drill Cuttings Treatment Technology ..................................................................... 27 2.8.1 Thermomechanical Cuttings Cleaner (TCC) ................................................................... 27 2.8.2 Microwave Cuttings Treatment ....................................................................................... 29 2.8.3 Supercritical C Extraction .......................................................................................... 30 2.8.4 Liquefied Gas Extraction ................................................................................................ 30 2.8.5 Chemical Washing and Surfactants ................................................................................. 30 2.9 Cuttings Reinjection ............................................................................................................... 31 3 CHAPTER THREE: STEAM DISTILLATION THEORY............................................................. 32 3.1 Temperature and Vapor Pressure Relationship ........................................................................ 32 3.2 Enthalpy of Vaporization ....................................................................................................... 33 3.3 Ideal Gas Law ........................................................................................................................ 35 3.4 Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressure ............................................................................................ 36 3.5 Distillation of Liquid Mixtures ............................................................................................... 37 3.5.1 Miscible Mixtures........................................................................................................... 37 3.5.2 Immiscible Mixtures ....................................................................................................... 39 3.6 Steam Distillation Description ................................................................................................ 41 3.7 History and Applications of Steam Distillation ....................................................................... 42 3.7.1 Fragrance Industry .......................................................................................................... 43 3.7.2 Food Industry 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