THERMAL PROCESS FOR TREATING HYDROCARBON-CONTAMINATED DRILL CUTTINGS

摘要

Hydrocarbon contaminants in drill cuttings generated in an oil drilling operation are removed by mixing the drill cuttings with an agglomerant (124) to produce a pre-treatment mixture (126); heating (140) to vaporize the hydrocarbon contaminants under a condition in which vapor entrainable particles of the drill cuttings are agglomerated by the agglomerant, and caking of drill cuttings is inhibited; drill cuttings having a reduced conte nt of the contaminant are removed (180), and vaporized hydrocarbons having a reduced content of vapor entrainable particles are recovered (160). In this way, the particulate content of vapors escaping from the drill cuttings is reduced.