Understanding Your Oil Waste

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The treatment of oil slops and oil sludge is rarely boring.

What is sludge to one person is a slop to another and what is oil mud to one person is often cuttings to the next person. When an inquiry comes into our office for the treatment of oil waste, we have learned it is critical to make sure there is a shared agreed language on what type of waste we are dealing with.

Depending on the nature of the waste, the composition and the origin different outcomes can be achieved and a range of treatment options should be considered.

SAS Environmental Services - Understand your waste

It is not uncommon for the oil sludge to be a mixture of different wastes. There can be heavy oil solids, clay or sand, water, oily emulsion and liquid oil. There is often a mixture of all of these and at times there will be separate areas in the pit or tank.

Often all of the waste is homogenised and then processed as one type of waste. In general this results in poor treatment outcomes and traps a lot of the recoverable oil in a sludge matrix. Not a good thing.

Before the treatment process is designed and implemented it is important to really understand the waste.

  • How much of the waste is solids?

  • How much free oil is there? And can we recover it?

  • What is the water content?

  • Is there previous treatment chemistry in the waste?

  • Does the waste separate out under gravity?

  • How does the waste respond when we expose it to chemistry?

  • Can we mix the waste and treat the it successfully or should we treat the phases separately?

 

A short 2 – 3 day site visit and waste evaluation by SASES can prevent massive costs later in fixing unsuitable waste treatment processes. Really understanding your oil waste is what we do at SASES. We can come in, evaluate, assess and design the right process for your oil waste and your required outcomes.

Don’t bring us in to fix your process, bring us in first to create the right outcomes.

Our goal is to support and empower you as our partner, in correctly and efficiently treating your oil waste. We put together a comparison sheet outlining the ways our SASES products work in oil waste treatment processes compared to other treatment methods like polymers for de-watering or thermal desorption and even stabilizing the waste. You will see some of the more obvious benefits as well as other elements you may not have considered when looking at our products. Discover them by downloading our comparison sheet.

SAS is US: Mark

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Last time we looked at one of the newest members of the SAS team. Today, we are going to get to know better one of the founders of SAS Environmental Services. If you have heard of SAS, and probably you have, because you are reading our blog, then you have heard of Mark, our fearless leader and CEO. In this interview we get to know a little bit more about his background and motivation. Without further ado:

Hi Mark.

Hi Laura.

Let’s start with the basics. What is your background?

Well, it seems long time ago when I lived in Holland and studied environmental engineering in Groningen. The European Erasmus program brought me to Edinburgh for a year of study. I ended up working on the production of biogas from whisky industry waste. Fun work and our labs were based in the gardens of a beautiful old villa. Wonderful team of people to work with as well.

How did you come up with the idea of SAS Environment?

Together with John we worked on the unique microemulsion technology and we discovered that there was a lot of oil waste being produced in the North Sea and elsewhere. Especially the liquid slops waste and oil sludge was often not treated or simply by heating it all up. Our microemulsions were perfect to separate this waste. Both John and I have an environmental sciences background and so we wanted to do something every day that makes the environment better, removes hazardous waste and helps people everywhere live in a healthier circumstance. It has been and remains fun, stressful, challenging, frustrating and hugely rewarding. I feel very lucky I travelled the world and made friends everywhere and worked with so many different, supremely qualified people.

How do you think the Oil & Gas Industry will look in the next 10 years?

I see the easy questions are coming out! The Million-dollar question. There is no doubt the energy industry is going through major changes and the growth in renewable energy supply will increasingly have an impact on fossil fuel demand. However, the world still needs enormous amounts of oil and gas to function. Virtually everything is still touched in some way by oil and gas. Materials are made of it, transported using it, etc. Having said that I think the oil industry will increasingly need to show responsibility for the environment. There are many good companies and people in the industry, and I hope they will get the opportunities to show the world that this key industry is going to do the right things.

One key element I strongly believe is that international funding organizations, commercial banks and governments are going to increasingly push for and fund the cleanup of historical waste from exploration and production activities. Much of this waste is in open to the air ponds, pits, lakes and lagoons. We need to go and sort this stuff out. It would also employ tens of thousands of skilled employees around the world.

What is your commitment to the environment?

Personally, I like living in a healthy environment. Being in a forest is a wonderful experience and taking my kids for a wander around Scotland or elsewhere is always brilliant. I want to leave the world in a better state than it was when I first entered the world! Things are improving everywhere, and the human race is incredibly resourceful. We will sort the problems we have to sort. I am an optimist but firmly realistic about the work that has to be done.

Thank you, Mark.

If you wish to know more, connect with Mark via LinkedIn.

Until next time!

 

SAS is Us : Laura

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March 2020 is definitely the month of ‘change’. We are all experiencing challenging times. The way we learn, work and socialize is shifting. It will mean that inadvertently our values will become clearer and motivate us to try new experiences. This applies to SAS ES as well. In the beginning of March we launched our new website. We wanted to personalize your experience on our digital ‘headquarters’. But most importantly, we wanted to become more transparent in our process and to clarify what we stand for, how we work and how important the relationships we have with our clients are.

You may have noticed the information we now made available on our history and our team pages. If you were expecting to see the ‘handsome’ faces of Mark and John, then you won’t be disappointed. But you may have noticed a new person. The person who designed the new website, and who is still learning the ‘trade’. As it happens, that person is me.

With this new series of weekly articles, we aim to introduce each member of our team. Those whom you may know and the more mysterious ones. This week, we are starting with the newest SAS member A.K.A. me. I must warn you, it will be an interview like article, which I suppose would work when you have two different people. For me it will be more of a monologue aimed at my screen. Without further ado:

“What do you do for SAS Environmental Services?”

Laura:  Most of my tasks are related to the creative side of the business. I started by building the new SAS website. I’m looking at creating a ‘rebirth’ strategy for the social media part. I am creating content for the digital space. But I’m still learning, so I’m always grateful for guidance from the team. Before working for SAS ES, I worked in the tourism and hospitality industry. I have a good experience in services and how to deal with people, but less of the technical know-how required in the Oil & Gas industry. However, I am learning every day!

Laura Susnea

 “You’ve worked in a service industry, previously. What do you think about the Oil & Gas Industry?”

Laura: Energy is something that we all need in this day and age. It solves so many other existential issues. It powers innovative technologies that save lives. That being said, assuming responsibilities and finding ways to perform your business where you contribute positively to the community and minimize your negative impact is an ethos to live by. We are headed in that direction. But the 20th century energy legacy remains with all the oil waste being stored and we have to solve that.

“What do you find the most compelling in your work at SAS?”

Laura: The passion that everyone has for saving the environment. Seeing how worse it can get either makes you give up or try to find a solution. We are just one tiny planet. We cannot travel anywhere else, we cannot survive anywhere else. So, if we don’t take care of home, how are we going to live? It’s not something that starts now and blends into the future. We have to look at our past as well. Mark and John’s idea for SAS ES 20 years ago was exactly that. Well if you ask them, they won’t explain it like I did, but the gist is they wanted to help somehow. They wanted to provide a solution to a problem that exponentially increased, and it wasn’t trendy or ‘sexy’ to look at. Now, everyone looks at it. So, I guess, you can call them some sort of pioneers.

“How will you contribute to the environmental problem SAS is trying to solve?”

Laura: I will do my best to have SAS’s voice heard through different mediums. I think we have a worthy cause to support. It’s not an easy one. It didn’t look so important or at least something that would impact the current generation. And all things said, up until recently, we weren’t built to have a generational thinking. But given the current crisis the world is facing with COVID-19, things will change. And the way we appreciate our planet will change as well. I’ll be SAS’s interface to the world.

Thank you, Laura, for your interview. You’re welcome, Laura.

So, maybe you’ve found out a little bit about me. I wanted you to know that despite being a novice to this industry, with a lot more things to learn, I do stand by SAS’s vision of making the environment cleaner and helping the energy sector in achieving their social responsibility objectives. If you want to know more, check out my LinkedIn.

Stay tuned for next Wednesday’s interview. Who do you want to know more about? Mark or John? What kind of questions would you ask them? Check out our Facebook poll and leave a comment. Stay safe and healthy! Until next week!

Laura

 
 

What's Your Waste Management Problem?

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Here at SAS-ES we love talking to our customers. Talking about what’s working, what’s not working, and one of our favourite topics of conversations is problems!

We love solving problems - the bigger and messier the better. That is why this blog post is dedicated to problems… and of course finding solutions to these problems. 

Problems are good. If you don’t have problems, there’s a good chance you’re not trying hard enough. The biggest problem with problems isn’t actually finding the solution, but it’s properly defining the problem in the first place. 

Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world, he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution. 

Keeping this in mind, what are your waste management problems?  

Waste Problem SAS ES

If you need some help to get you going, here are a few thought starters.

  • What keeps you awake at night?

  • What headaches do you have that you would love to disappear?

  • What is preventing your operations from being more efficient?

  • What is preventing you from achieving your business/personal goals?

  • What are your employees’ biggest challenges?

  • What are your customers’ complaints that are creating problems for you?

  • What are your customers’ problems you could possibly solve?


Now that you have a good list of problems, check out “Einstein’s Secret to Amazing Problem Solving” to get started finding a solution.

If your problem involves oil contaminated waste, heavy oil sludge, refinery waste etc. we’d love to hear about it. We may not have a solution, but if we don’t then we’re happy to help in any way we can to move you towards a good solution… or at the very least, help you to clearly define your problem.

Tank Bottom Sludge Oil Recovery

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SAS-ES receive many oil sludge waste samples, for this particular project the sample provided was black, oil coloured and contained a high oil content. The sample had been recovered from tank bottom sludge from a crude oil storage tank and sent to us by one of our customers to try and create a three-phase split of oil, water and solids. 

What we did... 

In order to successfully recover any oil present and remove as much of the water and sediment as possible, SAS-ES used a standard screening test method to reach the most effective result.

A sample of the waste was dosed directly with 0.5% of the SAS-ES products. Samples were then shaken thoroughly for 30 seconds and were spun in a spin out rotor centrifuge at 3,000rpm for 2 minutes. The samples were not diluted with water or any hydrocarbon solvent.

The results...

 
 

The testing provided different results for each product. However, it is clear the best result was obtained using the SAS SludgeTreat 156SC product, a further picture of this split is shown on the right.

So, to sum up...

After dosing the waste sample with our SAS SludgeTreat 156SC an immediate reduction in viscosity was observed. Our customer gained a significant oil recovery of 54%, with a clear water phase of 38%, meaning that solids only made up about 8% of the total waste stream. 

Another successful oil sludge treatment process by SAS-ES!

Want to find out more about the SludgeTreat 156SC? Contact Us by clicking the button below.