ABSTRACT
This chapter presents results of chemical conditioning, vacuum filtration, and pressure filtration techniques for deliquifying water-base and oil-base drilling muds and production sludges. Waste drilling slurries and production sludges from exploration and production activities have typically been discharged into earthen surface impoundments, or pits. The waste drilling fluids consist of drilling mud(s), borehole cuttings, and various other wastes generated at the drill site. The muds, along with cuttings removed from the mud via shaker screens, hydrocyclones and centrifuges for desanding and desilting, and mud cleaning, traditionally have been disposed in reserve pits. The results of full scale tests on the non-dispersed waterbase mud and the production sludge demonstrate that similar performance between the belt filter press and centrifuge can be expected. Solids-liquid separation is a viable technique to be used to clean up reserve pits resulting from oil and gas well drilling and production sludges from well operation.
