This post concludes the discussion on offshore sand cleaning. This series was started with post B-FSM-133.

Key Takeaway Items from Sand Cleaning Module

1. Only oil is practically cleaned to allow overboard disposal
2. Sand cleaning systems employ mechanical scrubbing

• Heat and surfactants may be added but typically not used

3. Cyclonic Cleaning System

• Uses mechanical scrubbing (shear, abrasion, and attrition)
• Closed loop cleaning cycle – eductors and cyclones
• Must match input/output to overall solids handling

4. Sand cleaning is a system not an off the shelf product therefore needs proper process design

References:

1. Amani, H., “Evaluation of Biosurfactants and Surfactants for Crude Oil Contaminated Sand Washing”, Petroleum Science and Technology, Vol. 33, 2015, pp. 510-519.
2. Buckley, J.S., Fan, T., “Crude oil/brine interfacial tensions”, Petrophysics, Vol. 48, No. 3, June 2007, pp. 175-185.
3. Dai, Q., Chung, K.H., “Bitumen-sand interaction on oil sand processing”, Fuel, Vol. 74, No. 12, 1995, pp. 1858-1864.
4. Davis, E.A., Lien, B.K., “Laboratory Study on the Use of Hot Water to Recover Light Oily Wastes from Sand”, U.S. EPA Project Summary Report EPA/600/SR-93/021, May 1993.
5. Garcia, J.A., “A System for Removing and Disposing of Produced Sand”, Journal of Petroleum Technology, April 1974, pp. 450-454.
6. Hess, M., Sinker, A., Rawlins, H., “Treatment of Solids at Oil Production Installations”, paper presented at IBC Conference on Meeting Environmental Standards for the Offshore Industry, Aberdeen, UK, December 1997.
7. Hodson, J.E., Childs, G., Palmer, A.J., “The Application of Specialist Hydrocyclones for Separation and Clean-Up of Solids in the Oil and Gas Industry”, paper 7590 presented at the 26th Annual OTC, Houston, TX, USA, 2-5 May 1994.
8. Melchor, A.E., da Costa, A., Rodriguez, C., Pena, J.R., “E&P Waste Management in the Orinoco Delta”, SPE Drilling & Completions, September 2002, pp. 164-173.
9. Murray, A.J., Kapila, M., Ferrari, G., Degouy, D., Espagne, B.J-L., Handgraaf, P., “Friction-Based Thermal Desorption Technology: Kashagan Development Project Meeting Environmental Compliance in Drill-Cuttings Treatment and Disposal”, paper 116169 presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, CO, USA, 21-24 September, 2008.
10. Quaishi, S., Bussmann, M., Acosta, E., “Capillary curves for ex-situ washing of oil-coated particles”, Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, Vol. 18, 2015, pp. 811-823.
11. Smith, P.G., van de Ven, T.G.M., “The Separation of a Liquid Drop from a Stationary Solid Sphere in a Gravitational Field”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol. 105, No. 1, May 1985, pp. 7-20.
12. S. Patent 4347118, “Solvent Extraction Process for Tar Sands”, August, 31, 1982, assigned to Exxon Research & Engineering Co.
13. S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, “Drilling Waste Management Information System: Fact Sheet – Thermal Treatment Technologies”, September 2, 2015, http://web.ead.anl.gov/dwm/techdesc/thermal/.

Next week I will start the module on Dewatering-Transport-Disposal.