Investigating the effect of drilling mud-cutting on the contamination level of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (case study: Well B of Azadegan South Oil Field)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Human Environment, College of Environment, Karaj, Iran

3 Pars Drilling Fluids Company, Tehran, Iran

4 Environmental Engineering and Pollutant Monitoring Research Group, Environment and Sustainable Development Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction:
The process of extracting and exploiting oil and gas resources requires a cycle of production, delivery, and recycling of drilling mud or drilling fluid to achieve the right composition of drilling mud and recycling it as a fundamental issue in the oil industry and also, the environment. For this purpose, waste management methods are usually used.
Material and methods:
In this study, an alternative method was chosen instead of the conventional method of stabilization/solidification as a drilling waste management process that is environmentally and economically viable. A total of 80 samples were taken from four types of samples taken from nine levels in an oil well in the south Azadegan field, including mud-cutting mixture, washed cutting, fixed mud-cutting mixture by cement (1:12 portion), and fixed mud-cutting mixture by cement and silica (1:12 and 1:400 portion).
 Results and discussion:
Samples were prepared in different types of washed, with drilling fluid, stabilized, with cement, and stabilized with cement and sodium silicate to assess the concentration of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as the salinity. The concentration of heavy metals in the samples showed that no waste management process is required to control or reduce the metals in the samples, but salinity and PAHs require treatment at a depth of 1800 m and more.
Conclusion:
Summarizing the results of the analyzes showed that the washing process is better from the environmental point of view than the conventional method of stabilization/solidification because the contaminants have been removed from the drill bit, which will be utilized as the final product of this process. However, in the stabilization/solidification method, the pollutants are not purified. Therefore, the washing process was able to remove the contaminant from the excavation wells, so that the washed samples were according to the standard soil of Iran until the end of the standard drilling operation.
 
 

Keywords

References

Antemir, A., Hills, C.D., Carey, P.J., Magni_E.M.C. and Polettini, A., 2010. Investigation of 4-year-old stabilised/solidified and accelerated carbonated contaminated soil. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 181, 543-555.
Heidarnia, B.A. and Karimi, H., 2010. Study of Soil Pollution Standards in the World and Iran. In the 4th Specialized Conference on Environmental Engineering. Autumn 2010. Tehran, Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).
Chen, Z., Zhou, J., Chen, Z., Chen, H. and Yuanjian, X., 2018. A laboratory evaluation of superheated steam extraction process for decontamination of oil based drill cuttings, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.6, 6691-6699.
Dariusz, K., Andrzej, G., Jerzy, F. and Lucyna, C., 2006. Trends in the Waste Management, Acta Montanistica Slovaca. 1, 80-83.
Esfandiari, M., Yahaqi, A. and Nabhani, N., 2015. Environmental effects of drilling flowers and drilling waste management methods, 4th Scientific Conference on Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Upstream Industries and Related Industries, Kimia Energy, January 2015. Tehran, Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).
FactSheet – The First Step – Separation of Mud from Cuttings, 2008 .
FactSheet – Solidification and Stabilization, 2008 .
Hassani, H., Sarkheil, H., Foroud, T. and Karimpooli, S., 2011. A proxy modeling approach to optimization horizontal well placement. Paper presented at the 45th U.S. Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, California.
Jafarinejad, Sh. and C.Jianga, S., 2019. Current technologies and future directions for treating petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants (PRPP) wastewaters, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering,7,103326.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2019.103326.
Jerry, M., 2005. Composition, Environmental Fates, and Biological Effects of Water Base Muds and Cuttings Discharged to the Marine Environment: A synthesis and Annotated Bibliography. Report prepared for the Petroleum Environmental Research Forum (PERF) and American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
Khaleghi, F., Shojaei, S., Soleimani, Gh. and Amiri, N., 2016. Soil Pollution and Related Laws and Regulations, at the Second National Conference on Sustainable Soil and Environmental Resource Management, 2016. (In Persian with English abstract).
Kogbara, B.R., Ayotamuno, M.J., Onuomah, I., Ehio, V. and Damka, D.T.G., 2016. Stabilisation/solidification and bioaugmentation treatment of petroleum drill cuttings, Applied Geochemistry.71,1-8. https:// doi .org /10.1016/j.apgeochem.2016.05.010.
Komaee, A. and Alizadeh, M., 2016. The Impact of Environmental Pollution of Drilling Flowers in Upstream Oil Industries and Strategies to Deal with It, 3rd International Conference on Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical with the Approach to Government-Industrial Relations, University and Industry Development, Tehran, Narun Expert Managers Institute, 2016. (In Persian with English abstract).
Neff, J.M., 2005. Composition, Environmental, Fates, and Biological Effects of Water Based Drilling Muds and Cuttings Discharged to the Marine Environment, Prepared for Petroleum Environmental Research Forum and American Petroleum Institute, pp.83.
Pollution Prevention Opportunities (PPO), in Oil and Gas Production, Drilling, And Exploration, Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Research Center, 2005.
Sarkheil, H., Hassani, H. and Alinia, F., 2009. The fracture network modeling in naturally fractured reservoirs using artificial neural network based on image loges and core measurements. Australian Journal of Basic Applied Sciences. 3, 3297-3306.
Sarkheil, H., Hassani, H., Alinia, F., Enayati, A. and Nikandish, A., 2012. Fracture analysis in Tabnak hydrocarbon field of Iran by using fractal geometry and multi-fractal analysis. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 5, 579-586.
Sarkheil, H., Hassani, H. and Alinia, F., 2013. Fractures distribution modeling using fractal and multi-fractal–neural network analysis in Tabnak hydrocarbon field, Fars, Iran. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 6, 945-956.
Sarkheil, St., Hassani, H., Alinya, F., Enayati, A.A. and Motamedi, H., 2009. A forecasting system of reservoir fractures based on artificial neural network and borehole images information-exemplified by reservoir fractures in Tabnak field, International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference: SGEM; Sofia, Vol. 1: 563570. Sofia: Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management (SGEM).
Sunday, A.L . and Julia, A.S., 2010. Stabilization/solidification of petroleum drill cuttings. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 174, 463–472.
Trusell, S. and Spence, R.D., 1994. A review of solidification/ stabilisation interferences, Waste Manage. 14 - 507.
UNEP and E & P, 2008. Environmental Management in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production.
Yousefi, M., Ehteshami, M. and Sadrnejad, A., 2013. A Study of Lead Pollution Standards in Soil and the Process of Procurement of Standard in accordance with the Conditions of Iran," at the 7th National Congress of Civil Engineering, May 2013. (In Persian with English abstract).
Veil, J.A., 2002. Drilling Waste Management: Past, Present, and Future, SPE 77388, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, September, 2002.San Antonio, TX.
Zhang, A., Li, M., Lv, P., Zhu, X., Zhao, L. and Zhang, X., 2016. Disposal and reuse of drilling solid waste from a massive gas field. Procedia Environmental Sciences. 31, 577 - 581.
Environmental Sciences
Volume 19, Issue 2
July 2021
Pages 111-126

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics