Drill cuttings, Slop and Mud

SAR offers environment-friendly treatment of all types of drilling waste with a focus on best possible recovery and recycling.

Typical waste streams from drilling operations includes cuttings, slop and contaminated water. SAR has treatment facilities and technologies to handle all types of drilling waste.

Cuttings treatment

SAR currently utilizes two technologies for treatment of drill cuttings TCC and ITDU. Both technologies are based on a thermal desorption process.

How does it work?

The TCC® (Thermo Mechanical Cutting Cleaner) is one of the most applied thermal desorption techniques utilized to treat drill cuttings. This technology converts kinetic energy to thermal energy in a thermal desorption process that efficiently separates and recovers the components of drilling waste whilst preserving the original quality of the components.

As a result, the recovered base oil can be returned to customer and re-used in new Oil Based Mud (OBM) or as fuel for diesel engines, whilst the cleaned solids have various industrial uses. The recovered water is sent to final biological treatment at our Mongstad plant.

Good to know

The process is regulated by a fully automatic PLC system
Base oil that is recovered is of excellent quality and may be used in new OBM or as diesel fuel
The residual oil content in the solids is roughly 0,2-0,3%
Capacity 4-6 tons per hour, depending on motor size and water content of cuttings
Only thermal technology accredited for use offshore in the North Sea and most likely the only existing thermal technology that is feasible offshore
Mobile units can be mobilized and stood down

The ITDU® (Induction Thermal Desorption Unit) is designed to treat oil contaminated soil and sludge such as drill cuttings and slop.

The ITDU® employs induction heat to increase the temperature in the waste to above boiling point for water and oil. The oil and water are condensed and cleaned; the characteristic of the oil is not altered in the process and the recovered oil is recycled for various use.

The recovered water is sent to biological treatment at our Mongstad plant (link). The technique has proven to be very energy efficient. The properties of the treated waste complies with the highest environmental standards.