Beneficial reuse of drill cuttings

Abstract

Drill cuttings, initially cleaned to remove a majority of drilling fluids therefrom, but which have residual organic species, including hydrocarbons, therein are used in clean technologies to make a wide variety of ceramic and concrete products, such as tiles, slabs, blocks, bricks, pavers, decorative edgings, planters, modular barriers, embankments, medians, dividers, precast products and the like for a variety of commercial sectors. In the case of the concrete products, the organic species in the drill cuttings, including hydrocarbons, are first minimized or degraded in the drill cuttings using an oxidative process, such as photocatalytic oxidation, use of an oxidant or combinations thereof, prior to mixing the drill cuttings with cement and water, to form various concrete products. The products produced have acceptable compressive strengths and minimize or eliminate any leaching of the drill cutting contaminants therefrom. In the case of the ceramic and advanced ceramic products, the hydrocarbons and other contaminants are melted during the process of firing the ceramic products in the kiln. The kiln temperature is carefully controlled to minimize safety issues, which would otherwise be associated with the presence of at least the hydrocarbons in the products.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.