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New technology for oily water clean-up
Volumc 16/Number 11/1985
complete list it contains 93,000 substances which is approximately 95% of the total number. The European Commission will accept comments on individual items until 30 November 1985 so that any omission or errors in the draft can be notified. The inventory may be consulted by contacting Mrs R. Wasserberg, EINECS Contact Point, Health and Safety Executive, Baynards Home, 1 Chepstow Place, London W2 4TF, UK.
EPA Gets Tough The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new regulations to govern the discharge of produced water, drilling fluids, drill cuttings, well fluids and sanitary wastes from all rigs and platforms operating in US Waters. According to the EPA, the regulations are based on treatment of the waste by 'Best Available Treatment' (BAT) technology. All new operations would be covered by the same requirements. In addition, 126 new oil developments expected to be located in shallower waters would be prohibited from discharging produced water altogether. Instead the water would have to be reinjected into deep wells. The new regulations, which also require all existing installations to control the amounts of oil and grease, mercury, cadmium, chlorine and floating solids, are the most stringent and expensive discharge regulations ever to be proposed. EPA estimates the cost of implementation would be $36 million annually for existing installations and an additional $56 million a year for the injection requirements for the new facilities. It is estimated that the reinjection of produced water would reduce toxic pollutant discharge to shallow US waters by an estimated 320 t yr -L and reduce oil discharge by 450 t yr -L.
Status of Water Quality in the US
40~000 people. Runoff from farms located on the Sound's tributaries contributes a large percentage of the coliform, nitrogen, and phosphorus loads of the areas waterways. The salmon fisheries are threatened by increased temperatures in the streams and rivers caused by the cutting of trees along the river banks and the widening of the waterways. EPA is calling for a 'change in lifestyle' that might include new land-use plans, zoning laws, forestry and farming practices, and septic tank ordinances. Similarly, Oregon, which led the US in controlling point sources of water and air pollution, is struggling with non-point sources primarily connected with its lumber industry. However, this state has already proved itself adept at clean-up of non-point source pollution. A coordinated effort was put into effect in 1977 to reduce a bacterial threat to oyster beds in Tilamook Bay caused by runoff from dairy farms. A similar programme is being conducted in Yaquima Bay to protect shellfish beds from bacterial contamination. These programmes emphasize public education and cooperation and keep regulation to a minimum.
Getting Rid of Drilling Cuttings One possible answer to the problem of accumulation of drilling cuttings on the sea bed below oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico has been suggested by Dr Cheng-Shan Fang of the University of Southwest Louisiana. At a meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Houston Dr Fang outlined a process in which barge-mounted equipment and storage tanks are used to suck up the drilling cuttings from the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. Shale shakers then separate the coarse solids, sand and silt from the water. The solid matter is then collected and stored for shipment onshore. The water, which may require further treatment to remove water soluble hydrocarbons, is then returned to the sea.
New Technology for Oily Water Clean-up
The US EPA sent the US Congress a report entitled "'National Water Quality Inventory, 1984 Report to Congress" on 4 August 1985. In that report, EPA found What to do with produced water (water that inevitably that only 82% of 13 million square miles of monitored comes up with the recovered oil from almost every US estuaries and coastal waters fully support their desigproduction platform world-wide) is a problem that has nated uses. In contrast, the report said that 78% of the always been with the oil industry. It is also one that 9.5 million acres of lakes and reservoirs and 73% of the . increases with the greater quantities of produced water 325 000 miles of rivers and streams that were assessed from ageing oil wells. by EPA fully supported their designated used. One major problem is that production water, although separated from the oil, still contains small droplets of hydrocarbons and so may not be simply discharged into the sea. Similar problems arise at oil terminals with tanker ballast water and at refineries with desalters and other processes. The US EPA is increasingly concerned that non-point sources are threatening the water quality and fishery According to a recent report in Offshore (September, resources of the US Pacific Northwest. The US Food and 1985) new devices are being developed simultaneously Drug Administration has been closing shellfish beds in in both Britain and Australia based on a passive hydroPuget Sound due to bacterial contamination, much of cyclone principle which resulted from research at the which originates from the canine population of Seattle. University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom. The two companies are B.W.N. Industries in The EPA Northwestern Regional Administrator said that the city's dogs contributed a bacterial load to Puget Melbourne, Australia, who have produced the Vortoil Sound equivalent to the raw sewage load of a city of system and Serck Baker in Gloucester, England, who
US Pacific N.W. Fisheries Threatened
429
Marine PollutionBulletin have produced the Oilspin separator. Both devices are similar in principle and differ only in specific design. The passive hydrocyclone works by centrifuge action and the hydrocyclone separator is constructed in such a way as to induce a vortex in a cylindrical tapering chamber with a reverse flow core throughout its length. The oily water is directed into the vortex and the oil droplets are drawn towards the central low pressure vortex core. Oil which collects at the core is drawn off from a separate oil outlet at the inlet end of the chamber where the pressure is lowest. The cleaned water discharges at the opposite end. To operate the Vortoil system an inlet pressure of at least 50 p.s.i, is required to produce a satisfactory driving force. The system, however, works best at higher pressures and has been tested to 460 p.s,i. During operation, fluid in the chamber swirls at up to 30 000 r.p.m, while moving through the system. Current legislation by the State of Victoria in southern Australia is amongst the most stringent anywhere in the world. The requirements for oily water discharge is an oil in water concentration of less than 30 mg l-~ average over 24 h, but at no time more than 50 mg I-~. Ifa stream of water exceeds these limits, the stream must divert to a pipeline and the produced water be sent ashore. The use of the Vortoil system by Esso on its Barracouta platform in the Australian Bass Strait h a s produced dramatic results, increasing the amount of water that can be discharged to the sea by 38%.
Mudflat Island for Oilfield in Elbe Estuary Deutsche Texaco/Wintershall are intending to exploit the modest Mittelplate oilfield discovered beneath the tidal mudflat north of Cuxhaven in the Elbe estuary. Several exploratory wells have already been drilled and indicate reserves of 75 m t of oil at a depth of 20003000 m. The plan is to construct an artificial island using sheet piling with a sand infilling protected by a 30 m wide rock fill zone. A protected inner zone will accommodate the drilling rigs. There will also be a loading basin for a shuttle barge which will be used to export the oil from the island to a terminal at Brunsbuttel near the mouth of the Elbe. The island is already under construction and should be completed later this year. The Mittelplate 1 well will be set up for immediate production followed by five more wells. If the project is successful more wells will be drilled in the future from one or two more artificial islands. The development is taking place in an area that is recognized by the operators as part of a valuable ecosystem off the North Sea coast. At present the State Government of Keil is preparing legislation to set up a Schleswig-Holstein Tidelands National Park which is intended to protect the mudflats from insensitive industrial exploitation. Texaco are to employ similar drilling techniques to those used during the exploratory drilling and which are 430
claimed to present minimal danger of oil spillage. Nontoxic water based muds will be used for the drilling operations, although the method of cuttings disposal has not been decided. Contaminated wastes that cannot be purified to a sufficiently high standard for sea dumping will, however, be disposed of onshore.
New North Sea Platform Guide A new reference book, the North Sea Platform Guide, has just been published by Oilfield Publications Limited. The 100 page guide contains 450 photographs and some 800 line drawings and diagrams. It is claimed that the book provides the first complete listing of all 370 fixed installations on 83 producing fields throughout the North Sea area. Further information can be obtained from Oilfield Publications Limited, Homend House, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 1BN, UK.
Round-the-World News Chile In an effort to reduce the chances of a serious oil pollution in the Strait of Magellan, the Chilean authorities are to enforce new regulations to control shipping in the area. The presence of 28 oil rigs in the Strait have reduced the effective width of the shipping channel to only 13 miles. The Chileans are worried that the combination of strong currents and tides and the heavy oil tanker traffic is making navigation in these waters extremely hazardous. Ships intending to enter the Strait will have to give port authorities 24 h notice and pilots will be compulsory between Puntas Arenas and the east entrance to the passage.
Greece The Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA) has just initiated a feasibility study into the conversion of large tankers into oil waste disposal facilities. The scheme is intended as a cheap alternative to the provision of shore based reception plants which are very expensive to install. H E L M E P A is considering financing an initial ship conversion should the study give favourable results. The converted ship would take waste from other vessels and employ sophisticated separation techniques to preserve oil residues for resale and to purify water to an internationally accepted standard.
India In a paper presented by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust to the 49th meeting of the governing body of the Indian Ports' Association in New Delhi, it was revealed that most major Indian ports have already drawn up contingency plans for combatting pollution in their own waters. Those that had not were urged to carry out a pollution status study to identify the sources of pollution and take preventative steps. Bombay and Madras ports have already completed such studies and Calcutta and
complete list it contains 93,000 substances which is approximately 95% of the total number. The European Commission will accept comments on individual items until 30 November 1985 so that any omission or errors in the draft can be notified. The inventory may be consulted by contacting Mrs R. Wasserberg, EINECS Contact Point, Health and Safety Executive, Baynards Home, 1 Chepstow Place, London W2 4TF, UK.
EPA Gets Tough The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new regulations to govern the discharge of produced water, drilling fluids, drill cuttings, well fluids and sanitary wastes from all rigs and platforms operating in US Waters. According to the EPA, the regulations are based on treatment of the waste by 'Best Available Treatment' (BAT) technology. All new operations would be covered by the same requirements. In addition, 126 new oil developments expected to be located in shallower waters would be prohibited from discharging produced water altogether. Instead the water would have to be reinjected into deep wells. The new regulations, which also require all existing installations to control the amounts of oil and grease, mercury, cadmium, chlorine and floating solids, are the most stringent and expensive discharge regulations ever to be proposed. EPA estimates the cost of implementation would be $36 million annually for existing installations and an additional $56 million a year for the injection requirements for the new facilities. It is estimated that the reinjection of produced water would reduce toxic pollutant discharge to shallow US waters by an estimated 320 t yr -L and reduce oil discharge by 450 t yr -L.
Status of Water Quality in the US
40~000 people. Runoff from farms located on the Sound's tributaries contributes a large percentage of the coliform, nitrogen, and phosphorus loads of the areas waterways. The salmon fisheries are threatened by increased temperatures in the streams and rivers caused by the cutting of trees along the river banks and the widening of the waterways. EPA is calling for a 'change in lifestyle' that might include new land-use plans, zoning laws, forestry and farming practices, and septic tank ordinances. Similarly, Oregon, which led the US in controlling point sources of water and air pollution, is struggling with non-point sources primarily connected with its lumber industry. However, this state has already proved itself adept at clean-up of non-point source pollution. A coordinated effort was put into effect in 1977 to reduce a bacterial threat to oyster beds in Tilamook Bay caused by runoff from dairy farms. A similar programme is being conducted in Yaquima Bay to protect shellfish beds from bacterial contamination. These programmes emphasize public education and cooperation and keep regulation to a minimum.
Getting Rid of Drilling Cuttings One possible answer to the problem of accumulation of drilling cuttings on the sea bed below oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico has been suggested by Dr Cheng-Shan Fang of the University of Southwest Louisiana. At a meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Houston Dr Fang outlined a process in which barge-mounted equipment and storage tanks are used to suck up the drilling cuttings from the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. Shale shakers then separate the coarse solids, sand and silt from the water. The solid matter is then collected and stored for shipment onshore. The water, which may require further treatment to remove water soluble hydrocarbons, is then returned to the sea.
New Technology for Oily Water Clean-up
The US EPA sent the US Congress a report entitled "'National Water Quality Inventory, 1984 Report to Congress" on 4 August 1985. In that report, EPA found What to do with produced water (water that inevitably that only 82% of 13 million square miles of monitored comes up with the recovered oil from almost every US estuaries and coastal waters fully support their desigproduction platform world-wide) is a problem that has nated uses. In contrast, the report said that 78% of the always been with the oil industry. It is also one that 9.5 million acres of lakes and reservoirs and 73% of the . increases with the greater quantities of produced water 325 000 miles of rivers and streams that were assessed from ageing oil wells. by EPA fully supported their designated used. One major problem is that production water, although separated from the oil, still contains small droplets of hydrocarbons and so may not be simply discharged into the sea. Similar problems arise at oil terminals with tanker ballast water and at refineries with desalters and other processes. The US EPA is increasingly concerned that non-point sources are threatening the water quality and fishery According to a recent report in Offshore (September, resources of the US Pacific Northwest. The US Food and 1985) new devices are being developed simultaneously Drug Administration has been closing shellfish beds in in both Britain and Australia based on a passive hydroPuget Sound due to bacterial contamination, much of cyclone principle which resulted from research at the which originates from the canine population of Seattle. University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom. The two companies are B.W.N. Industries in The EPA Northwestern Regional Administrator said that the city's dogs contributed a bacterial load to Puget Melbourne, Australia, who have produced the Vortoil Sound equivalent to the raw sewage load of a city of system and Serck Baker in Gloucester, England, who
US Pacific N.W. Fisheries Threatened
429
Marine PollutionBulletin have produced the Oilspin separator. Both devices are similar in principle and differ only in specific design. The passive hydrocyclone works by centrifuge action and the hydrocyclone separator is constructed in such a way as to induce a vortex in a cylindrical tapering chamber with a reverse flow core throughout its length. The oily water is directed into the vortex and the oil droplets are drawn towards the central low pressure vortex core. Oil which collects at the core is drawn off from a separate oil outlet at the inlet end of the chamber where the pressure is lowest. The cleaned water discharges at the opposite end. To operate the Vortoil system an inlet pressure of at least 50 p.s.i, is required to produce a satisfactory driving force. The system, however, works best at higher pressures and has been tested to 460 p.s,i. During operation, fluid in the chamber swirls at up to 30 000 r.p.m, while moving through the system. Current legislation by the State of Victoria in southern Australia is amongst the most stringent anywhere in the world. The requirements for oily water discharge is an oil in water concentration of less than 30 mg l-~ average over 24 h, but at no time more than 50 mg I-~. Ifa stream of water exceeds these limits, the stream must divert to a pipeline and the produced water be sent ashore. The use of the Vortoil system by Esso on its Barracouta platform in the Australian Bass Strait h a s produced dramatic results, increasing the amount of water that can be discharged to the sea by 38%.
Mudflat Island for Oilfield in Elbe Estuary Deutsche Texaco/Wintershall are intending to exploit the modest Mittelplate oilfield discovered beneath the tidal mudflat north of Cuxhaven in the Elbe estuary. Several exploratory wells have already been drilled and indicate reserves of 75 m t of oil at a depth of 20003000 m. The plan is to construct an artificial island using sheet piling with a sand infilling protected by a 30 m wide rock fill zone. A protected inner zone will accommodate the drilling rigs. There will also be a loading basin for a shuttle barge which will be used to export the oil from the island to a terminal at Brunsbuttel near the mouth of the Elbe. The island is already under construction and should be completed later this year. The Mittelplate 1 well will be set up for immediate production followed by five more wells. If the project is successful more wells will be drilled in the future from one or two more artificial islands. The development is taking place in an area that is recognized by the operators as part of a valuable ecosystem off the North Sea coast. At present the State Government of Keil is preparing legislation to set up a Schleswig-Holstein Tidelands National Park which is intended to protect the mudflats from insensitive industrial exploitation. Texaco are to employ similar drilling techniques to those used during the exploratory drilling and which are 430
claimed to present minimal danger of oil spillage. Nontoxic water based muds will be used for the drilling operations, although the method of cuttings disposal has not been decided. Contaminated wastes that cannot be purified to a sufficiently high standard for sea dumping will, however, be disposed of onshore.
New North Sea Platform Guide A new reference book, the North Sea Platform Guide, has just been published by Oilfield Publications Limited. The 100 page guide contains 450 photographs and some 800 line drawings and diagrams. It is claimed that the book provides the first complete listing of all 370 fixed installations on 83 producing fields throughout the North Sea area. Further information can be obtained from Oilfield Publications Limited, Homend House, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 1BN, UK.
Round-the-World News Chile In an effort to reduce the chances of a serious oil pollution in the Strait of Magellan, the Chilean authorities are to enforce new regulations to control shipping in the area. The presence of 28 oil rigs in the Strait have reduced the effective width of the shipping channel to only 13 miles. The Chileans are worried that the combination of strong currents and tides and the heavy oil tanker traffic is making navigation in these waters extremely hazardous. Ships intending to enter the Strait will have to give port authorities 24 h notice and pilots will be compulsory between Puntas Arenas and the east entrance to the passage.
Greece The Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA) has just initiated a feasibility study into the conversion of large tankers into oil waste disposal facilities. The scheme is intended as a cheap alternative to the provision of shore based reception plants which are very expensive to install. H E L M E P A is considering financing an initial ship conversion should the study give favourable results. The converted ship would take waste from other vessels and employ sophisticated separation techniques to preserve oil residues for resale and to purify water to an internationally accepted standard.
India In a paper presented by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust to the 49th meeting of the governing body of the Indian Ports' Association in New Delhi, it was revealed that most major Indian ports have already drawn up contingency plans for combatting pollution in their own waters. Those that had not were urged to carry out a pollution status study to identify the sources of pollution and take preventative steps. Bombay and Madras ports have already completed such studies and Calcutta and