Solid material comminution or disintegration – Apparatus – With separation or classification of material
Patent
1993-09-14
1994-11-08
Eley, Timothy V.
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Apparatus
With separation or classification of material
2411018, 241 46017, 2411522, B02C 2312
Patent
active
053619986
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a plant for treating drill cuttings obtained during oil and gas drilling, in particular but not only in connection with subsea oil- and gas wells. The plant performs a safe and permanent depositing of drill cuttings without contamination of the environment.
Many different approaches have been made to solve the problem related to disposal of drill cuttings which are brought to the surface by a drilling rig during a drilling operation. Great efforts have been made to clean the drill cuttings to regain valuable components therefrom. The purified drill cuttings have then been dropped back into the ocean. Some earlier suggested solutions may be mentioned such as: cleaning by washing with sea water; formation of pellets; and depositing in a wide, vertically arranged tube which is filled with drill cuttings from above while optionally collecting oil components liberated in the tube. An attempt has also been made to grind drill cuttings in a mill with frictional heat developed during the grinding process used for removing oil components from the drill cuttings by evaporation.
The present invention instead is aiming at obtaining a complete and final treatment of drill cuttings which have surfaced during the drill operation. The drill cuttings are not purified for deposition; on the contrary, the drill cuttings are disintegrated by crushing, i.e., all the constituents in the drill cuttings are kept intact while the crushing is repeated until particles above a certain predetermined size no longer exist. Then these particles are used to obtain a dispersion and/or emulution, (hereinafter referred to only as a dispersion), in water. This dispersion may finally be forced back into subsea structures by injection, preferably into the same structures from which the drill cuttings initially came with pressures as required according to the structure of the subsea formations at the depths where the injection is undertaken.
Earlier known methods for depositing drill cuttings have first of all led to great contamination problems. These problems are increasing and have recently overwhelmed the cost and time aspects of these proceedings. Earlier on it also has been difficult to find large and suitable deponating sites giving a safe and permanent deposition of the materials in question. By using the same formations in which the materials initially have been kept for thousands or millions of years as a re-storing place, a safe storing place is garanteed. The volume of such a space also are more than satisfactory as large amounts of useable materials have been removed before the re-injection takes place.
As far as we know, it has earlier only been attempted to deposite waste liquids by injection. When solid matters have been included it has always resulted in clogging problems. As far as we know attempts including re-injection of solid materials back to porous formations never have been tested in practice. The solid materials are anticipated to clog the structure and will therefore prevent further infusion. Since such tests are very expensive, they will not be carried out unless a good result is anticipated. The object of the present invention is to obtain a plant for treating and injecting of drill cuttings and other solid/liquid combinations wherein earlier known problems are solved and where expenses and treatment time are lower level than earlier methods obtained by injecting liquids.
The object of the present invention is to obtain a plant for treating drill cuttings and other waste materials in an inexpensive, efficient and fast manner while the above mentioned disadvantages are avoided. This is obtained by designing the plant according to the claims below.
The plant according to the present invention leads to additional advantages as explained below and is designed for treating drill cuttings and similar waste materials, in particular materials surfacing during the drilling for gas and oil.
The plant according to the present invention is characterized in that it com
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Seeland Jon-Arne
Sirevag Gunnar
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