Treatment of Drill Cuttings

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed for decontaminating cuttings produced from. a wellbore. The cuttings (11) are conveyed on a belt (13), made of a mesh material, to a decontamination region where, under reduced pressure and elevated temperature organic materials are removed, together with a quantity of water. In order to facilitate the process, a depth gate (14) is provided to control the depth of the cuttings (11) on the belt (13). The organic materials can be either collected and reused or alternatively burnt off. Once the cuttings (11) have been decontaminated they can be safely discharged or reused as part of the drilling process. To facilitate the process means (112,113) can be included which clean the belt (13) and remove compacted regions to prevent the mesh from becoming clogged up. A heat exchanger (18) can also be included to reclaim thermal energy used in the decontamination region

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.