Q'max Solutions Inc.

Cleancut Technologies Limited

Barry E McIntyre

Kazimierz S Szymocha

Drill cuttings associated with drilling fluid are thermally cleaned. The wet cuttings are fed into a vessel chamber having mechanical mixers, such as ribbon blenders, extending lengthwise of the chamber. Direct heating is applied to the chamber contents by introducing hot combustion gas from a heater. A combination of direct heating and mechanical back mixing of wet colder cuttings with drier hotter cuttings results in conditioning and conduction heating of the wet cuttings. The drilling fluid is evaporated and removed as gas. Dried cuttings are separately recovered. Caking and agglomeration of the solids is reduced.

Apparatus and process for removing liquids from drill cuttings

Hydrocarbon contaminants in drill cuttings generated in an oil drilling operation are removed by mixing the drill cuttings with an agglomerant to produce a pre-treatment mixture; heating to vaporize the hydrocarbon contaminants under a condition in which vapor entrainable particles of the drill cuttings are agglomerated by the agglomerant, and caking of drill cuttings is inhibited; drill cuttings having a reduced content of the contaminant are removed, and vaporized hydrocarbons having a reduced content of vapor entrainable particles are recovered. In this way, the particulate content of vapors escaping from the drill cuttings is reduced.

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Calgary, Canada

Barry E McIntyre