Economic disposal of solid oilfield wastes
A variety of solid oilfield wastes, including produced sand, tank bottoms, and crude contaminated soils, are generated during drilling, production, and storage processes. Crude oil and crude-contaminated sands or soils are generally designated as nonhazardous wastes. However, these materials still must be disposed of in an environmentally acceptable manner. The problems can become most pressing as oil fields in urban areas reach the end of their productive lives and the productive lives and the properties are redeveloped for residential use. An economically and environmentally sound solution is to reinject the solid waste into sand formations through slurry fracture muds and cuttings in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and the North Sea; naturally occurring radioactive materials in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico; and large volumes of produced oily sand in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The technique offers a number of economic and environmental advantages for disposal of solid oilfield wastes. When reinjecting into depleted oil sands, the crude waste is simply being returned to its place of origin. The long-term liability to the operator is eliminated, in marked contrast to surface storage or landfill disposal. Finally, fracture-injection costs are less than typical transport and landfill disposal costs for moderate to large quantities of solid waste
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 118767
- Journal Information:
- JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology, Journal Name: JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 47; ISSN 0149-2136; ISSN JPTJAM
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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