Technology Overview:
The Vacuum Assisted Pure Oil Recovery technology is an innovative technology that uses concepts of vacuum distillation to treat waste drilling mud/cuttings and recover the valuable drilling fluid at near virgin specifications. The technology also has the capability of recovering the water and solids from the waste for beneficial reuse – significantly reducing the amount of waste requiring disposal.
The heart of the technology lies in its use of a low operational vacuum (approaching 20 mmHg) to reduce the boiling points of the various components within the waste. The low vacuum ensures that the hydrocarbons associate with the drilling fluid can be recovered without approaching their thermal degradation temperatures. The use of the low vacuum significantly reduces the energy required to vaporize the hydrocarbons and water from the waste mixture – resulting in significant reductions in energy requirements.
The technology can be used to recover a wide range of oil based and/or synthetic based drilling fluids. The operational controls associated with the technology allows for the recovery of the hydrocarbon chains specifically associated with the type of hydrocarbons comprising the original base drilling fluid (e.g. C10 – C24). The result is a fluid that has chemical/physical properties almost identical to those of the virgin drilling fluid.
Quality:
The quality of the recovered drilling fluid has been independently evaluated by a third-party engineering firm and the Chemical Abstract Service, a division of the American Chemical Society, both of which found the fluid to be chemically equivalent to the virgin drilling fluid. As a result of this evaluation, the recovered drilling fluid, which we market as SecondSource drilling fluid, has been assigned the same CAS number as the original base drilling fluid. The high quality of the SecondSource drill fluid means that it can be used as a direct substitute for virgin drilling fluid without compromising safety, quality or costs. All of this can be achieved while minimizing impacts to the environment.
Supply Security:
In todays ever changing world economics and supply/logistics challenges, companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and risks associated with logistics and supply chain interruptions. By utilizing this new technology companies can reduce the costs and risks associated with buying and transporting virgin drilling fluids. The use of this technology will allow companies to control their supply of drilling fluid inhouse by recovering their own fluids from the waste they generated. No longer will they be solely dependent on external market forces, suppliers, and shippers to ensure that their operations run smoothly. Stability in cost and supply will be ensured.
Mobility:
The technology is designed to be highly portable and can be transported by road, rail or ship. This makes the technology highly suitable for remote sites and for both long/short term projects. In addition, the technology can be established at fixed facilities, such as shorebases to support offshore activity, or temporary facilities such as land based drill sites.
Environmental Sustainability:
With today’s focus on environmental sustainability and the search for “greener” oil, companies need to reduce their carbon footprint and improve the environmentally sustainability of their operations. Currently the production, transport, use, and disposal of drilling fluids has a major impact on environmentally sustainability.
This technology will help companies to reduce GHG emissions associated with the transportation and consumption of raw/virgin materials and minimize a major waste disposal stream. The ability to recover the drilling fluid for direct reuse in new mud formulations, will result in significant environmental benefits to companies and help reduce their environmental impact while improving sustainability.