The Thermomechanical Cuttings Cleaner
Recovery of oil from drill cuttings
Millions of tonnes of oil contaminated drill cuttings are produced every year. By nature the cuttings are contaminated by drilling mud. The level of contamination depends on the efficiency of the mud return system carried out by means of shell shakers. The cuttings may origin from drilling with water based mud (WBM) or oil based mud (OBM). Many different composition of mud and many different properties in the well result in a vast variety of cuttings properties. Defining characteristics of the cuttings is difficult and it is often not made easier by the drillers and mud suppliers who tend to protect details about their mud for competitive reasons. Quality of base oil recovered in the friction based hammermill
Base oils used for drilling mud are well defined, low sulphur, low aromatics oils within the diesel range of distillation. Among the quality specifications for the base oil are density and flash point. In addition HSE requirements like low aromatics, BTEX and low sulphur applies. Capacity of a TCC®
In the same way as any other thermal technology, the capacity of a TCC® is depending on the energy input and the content of the waste. Therefore, any capacity indication for thermal desorption processes has to be based on the composition of the waste. The energy required to heat and evaporate the various components in the waste is defined by thermodynamics. The principles of thermal treatment
The TCC® is based on the basic principle of thermal separation. The OBM cuttings is heated to a temperature sufficiently high to evaporate the oil (and water) from the mineral solids by heating the waste to a temperature higher than the evaporation point of the base oil in the OBM. The oil and water will be condensed back to liquids in later process steps. A common name for such technologies is “thermal desorption” technologies. How does a TCC® work
The TCC® is based on a completely different principle than the indirect thermal technologies. The TCC® converts kinetic energy to thermal energy by creating friction in the waste. A drive unit sets a series of shaft mounted hammer arms in motion inside a barrel shaped process chamber (also referred to as the hammermill or just the mill). The solid particles are forced towards the inner wall of the process chamber where the kinetic energy from the rotating arms will be transformed to heat by friction. The unit can run continuously, automatically controlled by an advanced Plc system. Frictional heat is constantly created by the hammering and motions. Indirect heaters
Whereas the TCC® is based on transforming kinetic energy to thermal energy,the conventional thermal desorption technologies are heating the waste indirectly. The waste is placed inside a box, container or other storage facility and is heated by a medium outside the storage facility through the surfaces of the storage facility. In all such technologies the waste is heated gradually to the temperature required for the oil to evaporate, and the oil in the waste is under influence of high temperature for a long period of time, normally 30 minutes or more. In addition, the temperature of the heating medium in an indirect technology needs to be higher than the evaporation temperature of the oil, meaning that the oil is also influenced by a higher maximum temperature. For these reasons the output oil from the conventional technologies has a reduced quality and is normally not used as a component in new OBM. |
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