Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – For metallic – siliceous – or calcareous basework – including...
Patent
1997-01-15
1998-05-26
Ludlow, Jan
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
For metallic, siliceous, or calcareous basework, including...
134 19, 134 251, 134 255, 134 40, 175 66, B08B 308
Patent
active
057558922
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
Oil-based drilling fluids and W/O invert drilling muds based thereon are of outstanding importance in the modern technology of geological development, for example for the exploitation of crude oil and/or natural gas deposits. The use of the new drilling fluid systems is of particular importance in the marine sector, but it is not limited thereto. The technology of drilling by the use of oil-based W/O invert systems finds general use also in terrestrial drilling, for example in geothermal drilling, water drilling, in carrying out geo-scientific drilling and in drilling in the field of mining.
Liquid sweeping systems of the type concerned here which are by far superior to the water-based systems, more particularly, in the sectors of off-shore drilling or in the penetration of water-sensitive layers, are generally used as so-called invert emulsion muds which consist of a three-phase system: Oil, water and finely divided solids. They are preparations of the type of W/O emulsions, i.e. the aqueous phase has been heterogeneously distributed in a finely dispersed state in the continuous oil phase. For stabilizing the system altogether and for establishing the desired performance properties, a multiplicity of additives is provided, more specifically emulsifiers or emulsifier systems, weighting agents, fluid-loss additives, alkali reserves, viscosity modifiers and the like. As to details, reference is made, for example, to the publications P. A. Boyd et al., "New Base Oil Used in Low-Toxicity Oil Muds", Journal of Petroleum Technology 1985, 137 to 142, and R. B. Bennett, "New Drilling Fluid Technology-Mineral Oil Mud", Journal of Petroleum Technology 1984, 975 to 981, as well as the literature quoted therein.
Oil-based drilling fluids were initially composed of diesel oil fractions containing aromatic constituents. For the purposes of detoxification and reducing the ecological problems thus created it was then proposed to use hydrocarbon fractions largely free from aromatic compounds--today also denoted as "non-polluting oils"--as the continuous oil phase; hereto cf. the literatur cited above. Nevertheless, even an elimination of the aromatic compounds from the mineral oils only leads to a restricted reduction of the environmental problems caused by the drilling fluids of the above type. Here, particular difficulties arise for the waste disposal of the so-called "cuttings" removed from the sweeping fluid phase, i.e. the rock cuttings formed upon drilling and conveyed upwardly along with the drilling fluid. In practice, these amounts of rock cuttings produced are separated by one or more step(s) of sieving and/or by further separating steps such as centrifugation from the major amount of the recycled drilling fluid phase. The resulting removed drill cuttings have been wetted with considerable amounts of the oil-based drilling fluid phase. If drilling fluid systems based on non-degradable mineral oils as the continuous oil phase are used, any disposal of drill cutting waste by dumping it down to the bottom of the ocean is now out of consideration. Ecological investigations have revealed that contaminations by mineral oils are still present even a long time after they were deposited and still can adversely affect the particularly sensitive marine eco-system. The same problems will arise upon work with water-based O/W emulsion fluids.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The relevant technolgy has for some time recognized the significance of a use of ecologically compatible and especially of biodegradable oil phases in connection with the composition of oil-containing drilling fluid systems. Thus, the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,737 and 4,481,121 describe oil-based drilling fluids wherein non-polluting oils are reported to have been used. As the non-polluting oils there have been mentioned, besides mineral oil fractions which are free from aromatics, vegetable oil of the peanut oil, soybean oil, linseed oil, corn oil and rice oil types and also oils of animal origin such as
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Ellice Malcolm
Grimes Douglas John
Herold Claus-Peter
Mueller Heinz
von Tapavizca Stephan
Baroid Limited
Grandmaison Real J.
Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
Jaeschke Wayne C.
Ludlow Jan
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