Oil and gas well cuttings disposal system

An oil well drill cuttings disposal apparatus comprising:

• a) a pair of holding tanks for collecting drill cuttings to be disposed of, each of said tanks having an interior collection chamber, each with a holding tank inlet opening that allows material to be added to each holding tank, and holding tank outlets that enable a selected tank interior to be emptied when the vacuum on a chamber is relieved;
• b) a pair of suction lines for transmitting cuttings from the drill site to respective inlet openings of the holding tanks;
• c) a power source for forming a vacuum within a selected one of the tank interiors and comprising a blower and an electric motor drive for powering said blower;
• d) a rig vacuum tank having a pair of vacuum tank inlet fittings and a vacuum tank outlet fitting;
• e) a pair of flow lines extending from the outlet fittings to the rig vacuum tank inlet fittings;
• and
• f) control valves for controlling flow into the vacuum tank interior via the inlet fittings.

A method of removing drill cuttings from an oil and gas well drilling platform that uses a drill bit supported with a drill string and a well drilling fluid during a digging of a well bore, comprising the steps of:

• a) separating drill cuttings from the well drilling fluid on the drilling platform so that the drilling fluids can be recycled into the well bore during drilling operations;
• b) transmitting the cuttings to a materials trough having an interior;
• c) suctioning the separated drill cuttings with first and second suction lines, each having an intake end portion that can be positioned at the materials trough;
• d) transmitting the drill cuttings via a selected one of the suction lines to a selected collection tank of a pair of collection tanks in an alternating fashion so that one tank can be filling while the other tank can be emptied or replaced;
• e) forming a vacuum within the interior of the selected collection tank using a blower that is in selective fluid communication with each tank interior via vacuum lines;
• f) separating liquids and solids from the vacuum lines before said liquids and solids can enter the blower;
• and
• g) valving the flow of fluid between the materials trough and the blower with a vacuum tank positioned in between the blower and the pair of collection tanks.

An oil well drill cuttings disposal apparatus comprising:

• a) a pair of collection tanks for collecting drill cuttings to be disposed of, each said tank apparatus having an interior that allows material to be added to the tank apparatus, and outlets that enable each tank to be emptied;
• b) a pair of primary suction lines for transmitting cuttings from the drill site to one of the collection tanks;
• c) a blower for forming a vacuum within a selected one of the collection tanks;
• d) a rig vacuum tank;
• e) a pair of secondary suction lines for communicating between the interior of the collection tanks and the vacuum tanks;
• f) the collection tanks defining separators that are positioned in between the primary and secondary suction lines for preventing the travel of solid and liquid matter from the collection tanks to the vacuum tank;
• and
• g) the vacuum tanks having a pair of fittings for controlling vacuum generated by the blower so that a vacuum can be generated in either of the collection tanks so that the drill cuttings can be vacuumed to one collection tank or the other in alternating fashion.