Many of our clients come to us with liquid waste of some type. This is often drilling slops or some kind of oily liquid from refinery processes, pipeline cleaning or even waste oil collection. A much used approach to this waste has traditionally been to de-water it. This works by removing the water as much as possible from the waste and so reduces the volume of the waste.
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We had worked on a number of projects where the nature of the waste was different from how it was described to us. Hazardous waste sample shipping is not always possible depending on the country of origin or the timeline involved. Sometimes we have go and visit the site and work locally. And at times what we find is a surprise.
The nature of oil waste is that the composition is rarely fixed. One pit will have solid waste, liquid waste and anything in between. Our job is to make the process and chemistry work on all of it.
Our MIST process is designed to separate liquid oil waste into solids, water and oil. At times we need to take waste that is high in solids (over 40%) and produce dry solids and remove any free liquids. The decanter will not safely process waste with such a high solids load. However, the SASES Waste Preparation Module is able to modify the waste using oil, water and/or the SAS SludgeTreat chemicals. This modification lowers the viscosity of the waste. By adding water or oil we reduce the overall solids content of the waste going into the decanter. The added oil and water is recovered at the end of the process.
This dual blend tank module enables the system to handle and treat virtually any type of oil waste and separate this into oil, water and solids.
Our project in Ecuador was a great example of our MIST system being augmented with this waste modification ability, providing the ability to the client to treat high solids waste and refinery oil sludge.
To find out more about hoe the SAS MIST performed in Ecuador, watch the video case study by clicking the button below.
We are all aware of the traditional method of manual mud tank cleaning, where teams of trained personnel enter contaminated mud tanks, often erecting scaffolding in order to gain access to the higher parts of the wall and the roof of the tank. However, we don't think this is the most efficient or effective way to get the cleaning done...
Manually cleaning mud tanks is time intensive, costly, and overall a very dirty, tiring job. When you take all these factors into consideration, it is definitely time to find a new way to approach this old issue. We believe the answer lies within the development of microemulsion delivery systems for the cleaning of drilling rig mud pits and platform supply vessels.
Microemulsion chemical technology, when paired with an innovative mechanical delivery system, really reaches a new, optimised level of tank cleaning with fewer health and safety issues compared to the traditional method of operation. Cleaning operations can also be greatly enhanced through the use of 'cleaning in place systems' or 'CIP'. These systems consist of designed skids containing filtration and pumping equipment capable of delivering sufficient pressure and flow to deliver a microemulsion solution to as many as four mud tanks at a time!
By using geared cleaning nozzles, the entire inside of a mud tank can be covered with a microemulsion cleaning solution within a matter of minutes. This minimises man entry into the mud tank, resulting in a fraction of the time being required. Once these nozzles are in place and connected to the CIP system, the microemulsion cleaning solution is pumped through the system and breaks up the drilling mud on the tank walls and the mud cake on the tank floor. The resulting liquid waste can be easily removed using standard pumping equipment.
The microemulsion technology breaks down the mud, creating low viscous slurry. This waste stream is then placed either in a weir tank where solids can settle, and the liquid is reused for further cleaning operations, or the waste is treated using hydro cyclones and/or filtration equipment. The use of microemulsion chemistry allows for a continuous mud tank cleaning process, either onshore for the processing of supply vessels or offshore on the rig.
More information on microemulsions is available on our website!
The process of microemulsification has proven particularly effective in hard surface cleaning applications in the oil and gas industry. The use of this capability exploits a number of features whereby a microemulsion forming surfactant system can absorb oil from a bulk of oil phase, thus forming a microemulsion. So, what are the advantages of this approach?
Microemulsions can absorb oil from an oil coated solid surface or fine solids particulates with the same result without forming stable emulsion waste as a result.
Oil contaminated surfaces can be rendered completely oil free as a result of the microemulsification process.
Any contaminated oil is simply dissolved and then split out by the solution following removal from the tank and can therefore be recovered.
Microemulsions tend to increase in their cleaning efficiency when the active ingredient concentration is increased, therefore lower volumes of higher concentrations may be used in micro-emulsion based cleaning formulations.
Microemulsion systems may also be used to much greater effect at much lower concentrations when compared to normal emulsion forming surfactant systems, resulting in reduced waste, time and cost savings, and improved health and safety aspects.
Reduction of man entry into confined spaces of hazardous storage tanks by the use of automated tank cleaning systems and application of the right type of chemistry.
By working together tank cleaning companies, chemical suppliers, and tank terminals or refinery operators have the ability to reduce the downtime of storage tanks in the maintenance cycle, minimise waste volumes produced and maximise levels of oil recovery during the process using this technology. Waste recovered from these operations can also be separated into water and solids while the recovered oil is simply returned to the storage system or refinery.
It is clear there are many advantages, and therefore no reason why tank cleaning time, waste reduction and oil recovery can't be improved by 50-95% by adopting an integrated approach of using these chemistries.
If you want to learn more about microemulsions, why not contact us today?
For over 15 years SAS Environmental Services have led the way in developing integrated microemulsion solutions for tank cleaning operations, crude oil sludge treatment and oil slops treatment. We aim to create real synergy in our approach to tank cleaning by combining microemulsion chemistries with automated tank cleaning systems.
The cleaning out of oil and fuel storage tanks, supply vessels and tanker trucks is still a time-consuming task. All too often tank cleaning results in the generation of large quantities of liquid waste containing wash fluid, oil and solids ranging from clays, sand to carbon and other particles. In addition the actual cleaning takes a lot of expensive and valuable time. The storage tank is out of service while being cleaned, the supply vessel is not available and the mud pit cleaning could well hold up the drilling process.
However, here at SAS-ES we have developed the philosophy that tank cleaning and the treatment of oily waste could, and should, be carried out in the most effective way possible, causing the least disruption to operations, and creating from that a minimal volume of waste. In fact, our philosophy was, and is, that any oil trapped in the waste, either on the solids or within an emulsion waste, represents lost value and lost resource.
SAS microemulsions chemistries have the ability to reduce the time needed for tank cleaning from several days or weeks to a matter of hours or 1 or 2 days. Looking back over the past 15 years we can safely say that in general time requirements for tank cleaning operations are reduced by 50 – 80% when using SAS products compared to water or solvent washes or simple manual cleaning.
The process of using microemulsion products itself is very simple and revolves around two key benefits of the SAS products:
The highly efficient cleaning effect of the washing fluid. This very quickly removes any hydrocarbon residues and immediately lowers the viscosity of any sludge or tank bottoms present allowing for easy transportation out of the tank.
The prevention of any emulsion waste forming, which is so often the problem when using standard detergent cleaning products. When using the microemulsion products the waste stream is pumped out of the tank and the solids very quickly settle in a simple settling tank or weir tank allowing the wash fluid to be re-used. Because virtually no solids are carried over in the wash fluid the tank cleaning equipment used does not suffer from blockage or erosion by clay and sand particles.
The automated tank cleaning systems used run on significantly lower pressure than many high pressure systems. In fact the SAS automated tank cleaning systems run on a pressure of 100PSIG or 7 bar. This lower pressure results in less damage to protective coatings on the inside of tanks and is made possible through the use of microemulsion products. Instead of physically moving the waste with the impact force of the jet, the waste is removed through the cleaning effect of the SAS microemulsion products.
SAS products are generally supplied in a highly concentrated format, which reduces transport costs. The products can then be diluted to any concentration for use in water and usually a dose of around 5 – 10% is highly effective in most tank cleaning projects. Re-using this wash water 5 – 8 times is custom.
Over the years SAS products have been used to clean out hundreds of tanks, treat thousands of tonnes of oil emulsion waste, tank bottoms and drilling mud slops. Our automated tank cleaning systems are found as mobile CIP systems on the back of trucks and fixed installed on drilling rigs. The philosophy of recovering the resources trapped in waste and doing so efficiently and simply is indeed leading to some remarkable results.
