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Novel sintered glass-ceramics from vitrified oil well drill cuttings

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Abstract

An amorphous glass was obtained by melting drill cuttings from oil and gas exploration and production operations in the North Sea that have been blended with sodium and calcium oxides to minimise the melting temperature. Mixtures containing dried drill cuttings:sodium oxide:calcium oxide in the weight ratio 8:1:1 held at 1300 °C for 5 h produce an amorphous solid that can be further treated at temperatures between 750 and 800 °C to give a largely crystalline glass-ceramic. The glass-ceramics have been characterised by physical, chemical and mechanical analyses and shown to have properties of machinability, strength, wear-abrasiveness, thermal resistance, resistance to crack propagation, and stability towards leaching that make the materials suitable for tiling applications, allowing diversion of the drill cutting wastes from final disposal in landfill.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Petroleum Technology Development Fund of Nigeria (for a grant to OEA), Shell UK E&P Aberdeen (for provision of drill cutting samples) and Professor John Donaldson and Dr. Amutha Devaraj for helpful advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sustainable Production and Resource Efficiency, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    O. E. Abbe, S. M. Grimes & G. D. Fowler

  2. Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK

    A. R. Boccaccini

Authors
  1. O. E. Abbe
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  2. S. M. Grimes
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  3. G. D. Fowler
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  4. A. R. Boccaccini
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Correspondence to S. M. Grimes.

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Abbe, O.E., Grimes, S.M., Fowler, G.D. et al. Novel sintered glass-ceramics from vitrified oil well drill cuttings. J Mater Sci 44, 4296–4302 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-009-3637-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-009-3637-y

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