Oil Waste Solutions - Achieving Net Zero Goals

Up to a year ago the carbon footprint of oil waste treatment was not a topic that had come up very often. At SAS we know this issue is going to become increasingly prominent. 

What is the carbon footprint of oil waste treatment and transport? Within the space of perhaps a year this changed from a minor question to an central issue that requires to be addressed consistently in many of the projects we are engaged in.

Over the past few months, the team here at SAS, have tried to shine some light on this topic and provide some tools you can use yourself. Tools that give you the opportunity to assess what the impact of net zero requirements will be on your business. 

There will be no hiding from the realities of the drive to net zero for our economy. This issue will not go away and the demands on the industry will only grow to show leadership and commitment. Governments will increasingly push for evidence of positive measures and evidenced positive impact.

 Your customers will increasingly make the carbon cost part of the assessment criteria in contract tenders. You need to know where your process, your business stands within this framework. You need to understand how you can positively contribute and how you and your business can thrive and lead in this changing landscape.

Not many of us ever gave thought to scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Yet here we are. It’s time to start caring. We can help of course, here at SAS. Reach out to use if you want to get our thoughts on where you can move your business and your carbon impact.

Need help assessing your business and its progress towards Net Zero goals? Download our Business Net Zero Action Plan.

Model 2 : Disposal of Stabilized Oil Sludge

The Scenario

Let us imagine that we have 50 000 tonnes of liquid oil sludge in a storage somewhere and we must move this sludge about 600 km to the nearest disposal site that is willing to accept it. However, the disposal site will only accept it if it is a solid waste not as a liquid waste. There are several ways to proceed from here, but what is becoming increasingly relevant in today's world now is how much carbon footprint our treatment process incurs.

The Treatment Method

A method that is used to turn liquid sludge into a solid waste so that it is safer for disposal and accepted in more disposal sites is by stabilizing or fixing the waste. This is usually done by adding a stabilizing agent to the waste. The stabilizing agent obviously must be taken to the waste; it must be mixed at the site.  The stabilizing agent is usually a clay or perhaps sawdust, depending on the site location. This process increases the waste volume, but it does turn into a solid. Once solid, with no free liquid visible, the waste will have increased the total volume by a factor of three or four. This quantity then must be transported by truck to the disposal site, 600 km away, where it is safely and securely stored for eternity.

The SAS MIST Process

This is one way of doing it, but obviously, we are increasing the waste volume by a factor of three or four. It seems contra intuitive to create more waste just to treat the waste. Alternatively, what we can do is add a little bit of our SAS chemistry and put it through our SAS MIST process. What happens then is rather than adding stabilizers to the waste to turn it into a solid material, we actually remove the water and the oil, leaving only dry solids. The oil is recovered, and the water will be reused. We are left only with the dry solids that we then transport to the disposal site.

 The Advantage

That is a huge saving, rather than increasing the waste volume by 300% or 400 %. we are actually reducing the volume of the waste by about 90 % here, so the carbon footprint is going to be substantially smaller. In the case of this particular example, you're looking at over 20 000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions for stabilizing the waste and transporting it or you're looking at about 1400 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions for the SAS MIST process and only transporting a much smaller fraction of the waste. The impact on the carbon footprint by actually treating at the site of storage or generation is absolutely massive.

Your Benefit

How will this help you? By decreasing treatment costs, reducing long-term exposure, making your processes more efficient and staying ahead of your competition by being part of a progressive and sustainable route to Zero Carbon.

Download the Companion Factsheet to the video to find out more.

The Role of Carbon Offsetting on the road to Net Zero

Achieving Net Zero can deliver a range of business advantages– from demonstrating environmental credentials and building customer confidence in your brand, to improving staff engagement with your broader sustainability programmes. It can even deliver business growth opportunities – building resilience in supply chains, supporting growth in key markets and helping to launch new products and services. 

Companies are taking the lead by measuring, reducing and where necessary, offsetting their emissions. Some of the world’s biggest Oil & Gas Companies are taking the lead in making commitments to meet Net Zero targets. Is it about offsetting?

It is frequently stated that the road to Net Zero is one strewn with good intentions, or in this particular case, one of offset responsibilities. Many industrial processes cannot be replaced with carbon neutral methodologies. It is the case that once a full implementation of reduce, replace and manage is exhausted that the role of carbon offset becomes important. 

Can offsetting carbon emissions really tackle climate change? 

Offsetting alone is clearly not going to tackle climate change. It is simply a part of a planned strategy of carbon reduction.  But even in the best case scenario this transition will take time and in the meantime everyone will have a carbon footprint, regardless of how hard they try to reduce it.  Until we reach a zero-carbon world we need to do something about this unavoidable, residual carbon footprint. Paying to reduce an equivalent amount of carbon emissions through voluntary carbon offsetting is the most cost effective, fast and efficient way of doing this. 

Isn’t carbon offsetting is just a short term ‘stop gap measure’ for businesses to carry on emitting greenhouse gases, rather than address their carbon footprint? Businesses nearly always reduce first. In reality, nearly all businesses invest in reducing their in-house carbon footprint before considering a payment to offset what remains. Internal reduction activities frequently save money, while investing in carbon offsetting involves a financial outlay. Few businesses make this sort of investment without first getting their own house in order and being fully committed to operating sustainably. 

The alternative is doing nothing. Even if a business has done all it can to reduce its emissions it will still have a carbon footprint. Paying to offset them, is better for our environment than the alternative, which is to do nothing at all. Offsetting delivers real benefits for the environment and local communities. 

SAS MIST Process - how it helps with your waste, step-by-step.

Is carbon offsetting enough?

Offsetting is a first step in the right direction and meant to balance the scales. However, current governmental and social pressures push towards a more pro-active strategy in tackling CO2 emissions and tacking responsibility along the corporate chain. Offsetting an already reduced amount of emissions is better. To remain competitive, oil companies must demonstrate they have taken steps in transforming their operations to become as carbon neutral as possible.

SAS Environmental Services has taken this philosophy to heart. Using a combination of innovative chemistry, state-of-the-art engineering and over 40 years of cumulated experience in the industry, we help oil waste companies to reduce their oil waste through low energy processes.

Download our SAS MIST 220 to discover more.

Working towards Net Zero – a Sustainable Business Ambition

To future proof your organisation in today’s fast-changing world, you need to balance economic and environmental considerations to ensure responsible, ongoing success.  Therefore, oil waste companies must develop a continuous improvement program that encompasses the implementation of an energy strategy. 

Waste Management Plans are not new. They have directed robust management strategies of achieving environmental compliance with the least impact on costs.  As the need for the measurement of carbon footprint and mitigation of discharge of GHG emissions becomes commonplace, any waste management strategy must consider the release of GHG into the environment as a significant consideration.  

Governments are pushing their economies towards a range of net zero carbon goals. It is important and virtually unavoidable that companies in the energy and waste management sector step up and reduce their own carbon footprints AND assess how their products and services impact their clients’ carbon footprint.

But what does Net Zero mean?  Net zero simply means achieving a balance between GHG emissions produced and those removed from the atmosphere.

By building a carbon reduction plan that balances these economic and environmental considerations waste generating companies will be best placed to outperform their competition and drive long-term success. 

So, if you are looking to assess your organisation’s carbon foot print and create a plan to reduce it and explain to your client how you can help reduce their carbon foot print, how do you start? Where to begin? Well, we have put together a useful action plan template to help guide you through this process.

Download our Net Zero Action Plan to find out what steps you can take now to reduce your carbon footprint in operations.

What challenges do businesses face in the transition to zero carbon?

Transition to zero carbon will be an important business priority over the next years. Governments are activity setting a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which is expected to result in increasing legislation, as well as incentives, to ensure businesses play their part. 

Moving to a position of carbon neutrality is a significant undertaking, with many challenges facing businesses of all types. The desire to reduce carbon emissions is strong and continues to grow, as new generations enter the workforce and demand change. 

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Overcoming cost barriers

With increasing environmental pressures often come associated higher costs. The perceived burden of measuring, classifying and putting a programme of continuous improvement of Green House gas  (GHG) is an additional pressure on a company’s resources.

Change is always approached with apprehension and suspicion. However, with CHANGE comes OPPORTUNITY.

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At SAS ENVIRONMENTAL, we pride ourselves by providing innovative technical solutions to the treatment of wastes and recovery of valuable hydrocarbon resources. Our innovative technology is proven to recover typically 80% of oily volume and returning it to a useable form. This not only reduces residual waste volume and associated treatment and disposal costs; but provides the benefit of the value of the oil recovered.

SAS Environmental customers’ face the same challenges of reducing the discharge of oily waste by converting much of it to reusable resource.  In the months to come the requirement to measure and report material that contributes to the Carbon loading will become an increasing requirement and the incentive to Reduce, Reclaim, Recycle and Reuse will never have been more important.

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We now see that the benefits extend from not only reclaiming valuable resource but the equally valuable reduction in GHG emissions associated with conventional treatment and disposal.

This is no better illustrated by the processing of Oily waste at the INEOS site at Grangemouth.

As legislators embrace the needs for reporting of, and reduction of Carbon rich, oily wastes; increased emphasis will be placed on recovery of these ‘wastes’ and turning them into usable, commercially valuable resource.

Saving the planet, one step at a time.

If you have any waste treatment projects you're working on in oil waste then get in touch with us on any one of the many channels that are available. We would love to talk to you and see if we can help you, help the planet.

Find out more about oil sludge treatment in our Case Study by clicking below.

Reduce carbon emissions and still perform

The oil industry operates within a wider society and provides a vital resource and service to society. Without Oil and Gas our current economy will not function. No doubt the future will bring big changes and the energy industry will play a key part in this. There are things the Oil industry can do to improve the environment and contribute to the growing energy needs of the planet.

"What are the available methods for the oil & gas industry to improve its environmental performance ?"

As an environmental technology provider and experts in the design and optimisation of oil waste treatment processes we have our views on what we can do to improve the industry’s performance. Let's look at the creation and treatment of drilling waste. Roughly separated into solid waste (drill cuttings) and liquid waste (slops) these materials are created in substantial volumes around the world.

A common treatment method is the use of some type of thermal system to heat the cuttings and so remove the oil and water from the solids. This leaves mostly dry cuttings and, depending on the process, mud and geology, provides some recovered oil and some emulsion slops waste. The CO2 production as a result of running a thermal system on diesel is substantial.

The SAS technology process is proven and robust and can alleviate this challenge by:

• Lower the CO2 emissions of cuttings treatment by up to 65% compared to traditional methods

• Lowering the environmental footprint of the MIST cuttings treatment process by making our unique chemistry from plant based and waste material derived green chemistry.

• Reducing the need for generators and logistics relating to diesel movement by providing support service in running the entire MIST process from mobile solar panel units.

Using new technology and using proven technology much of the drilling waste can be eliminated. We can prevent most liquid drilling waste, or slops waste, by using our chemistry in cleaning operations. This cuts waste by over 90% and reduces the need for waste transport by OSV and truck and removes the requirement for waste treatment and disposal.

There is a lot of low hanging fruit ready to be picked and I have no doubt others in the industry can see other areas where this is the case. Becoming more environmentally responsible while reducing operating costs makes sense. Now is the time to apply what we know we can do.