Incorporation of drilling cuttings into stable load-bearing structures
OwnerJ. Blake Scottinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Cuttings from drilling through or into natural rock and/or soil can be incorporated into useful, high quality load-bearing structures such as vehicle roads and pads for deep drilling rigs. This process recycles a material previously regarded as valueless at best and often as a pollution hazard. The cuttings, optionally mixed with drilling mud and/or soil, are converted to the useful structures by pozzolanic and/or cementitious reactions after being mixed with suitable other materials and/or are bonded into the useful structures by asphaltic materials.
Claims20
A process for constructing load-bearing structures incorporating drilling cuffings, said process comprising operations of:
- (1) forming a particulate mixture comprising drilling cuttings;
- and
- (2) at least one of groups (2.1) and (2.2) of suboperations, said group (2.1) comprising suboperations of:
- (2.1.1) mixing said particulate mixture comprising drilling cuttings in a specified proportion with at least one stabilizer selected from the group consisting of:
- (A) quicklime;
- (B) hydrated lime;
- (C) Portland Cement;
- (D) Class C fly ash;
- (E) cement kiln dust;
- (F) lime kiln dust;
- (G) Class F fly ash;
- and
- (H) other pozzolans
- to form a cementitious second mixture;
- (2.1.2) forming said cementitious second mixture into the shape and size of the desired load-bearing structure;
- and
- (2.1.3) causing the shaped and sized second mixture formed in suboperation (2.1.2)
- to undergo a pozzolanic reaction to form said load-bearing structure;
- and said group (2.2) comprising suboperations of:
- (2.2.1) mixing said particulate mixture comprising drilling cuttings in a specified proportion with at least one of foamed asphalt and emulsified asphalt to form an asphaltic second mixture;
- (2.2.2) forming said asphaltic second mixture into the shape and size of the desired load-bearing structure;
- and
- (2.2.3) causing the shaped and sized asphaltic second mixture formed in suboperation (2.2.2) to form the load-bearing structure by removal from said shaped asphaltic second mixture of a sufficient fraction of the gas dispersed in any foamed asphalt incorporated into said second mixture and of the liquid continuous phase in which any emulsified asphalt incorporated into said shaped second mixture is emulsified.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.