..

SPE 25157

Remediation of the Contaminated Ocean Floor Around Offshore

Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico
m &chtyd FWdaunErrdnoas

C,5.Fang,*
Kaiqin
Tao,andJongHcwLin,
U.ofSouthwestern
Louisiana
●SPEMember

~ lwrSoCiMy
of
PO!rOlwm Englnnm, Inc.

lhtcwwnpropuodkf~ 8ttrMsPElntomdb@
$-m on Oilfbtd (Winbtry twlcl in New 0flean8, LA, U. S.A., Much 2-5, 1SE2.

. plafformsin the Gulf of Mxico are

coveredby contaminated Sediment.ocean
me previouseffortof cleaningthe currentis not as effectivein washing
contaminatedoceanflooramuml out the discardd oceanmis as pre-
Offskxe platformsin * Gulf of viouslybeliewd. Standingon the plat-
Msxicohas beenevaluatedandan foxmone can see oil bubblesrise to
~ cl- P--s is P=- the surfaceof the water.Therehave
Sem@ basedcm the preliminary been SclnestU3iesand debatesaboutthe
studywhichuses laboralmyexp2ri- envimxmentaleffectof thesedischarges
HW data,fielddab and cmputer [1,2,3]. An atlmpt was mde to clean
calculationsm improvedcleaning
● saw of the offshoreplatfoms in the
P~ inchxks filtration, air Gulf of Fkxim [41.
flotationand carbonadsorption
operatims. me iqxmved process Thereare alsodiscussionsin industry
can reducethe organicccqomds and Congresson the @ential applica-
returningto the axan frcm 841 ppn tionof offslmreplatformsas artificial
to appmximakely5 pp. reefsfor marinelife.Hmever, a ckan
oceanfloornear plafformswill be needsd
in developinga healthyeccsystemfor
artificialreefs.
For decadesin offs?’mre
drilling,the
drillcuttingswere separatedfran QLJNWI’IYAND CHMXTEM E?l’IC$
OF DHXARGES
&e cimulattiqdrillingfluidby the
shaleshaluxand hydmcychne, and Estimtsd tonnagesof drillingfluidsand
dischaxyedm the ocean. The drilling solidsdischargedto the Gulf of Mexico
fluiditselfwas dischaqxl to the franoffskm operatims in 1975-1978
oceanintemit*tly m mainM.n its were re~rted @ Hilemn [2]. The dis-
~ duringthe drilling chargesinclude110,210tons/yearof
properties
process.Thesedischrges containmany drillingfluidadditivesand 3,310,000
environnsntallyundesirable
ckmwals, tans/yearof trillcuttings.Accordinglx
~ as ~ns, ~ addi- Menzie [1], drill- fluidand drillcut-
tivesand heavymetals.The tonnages tingsdiacharqedare, respectively, 520-
of thesediacharqesdiachargd to the 709 tonsper well and 823-1285tonsper
Gulfof MexicOin recentyears- well in explorationoperation,and 7090-
estimatedand ~wportd * Mmzie [11 32,820tonsper platformand 9000-27,000
d Hilenan[21. Asaresult, the tim pex platfom in development opera-
oceanfloorrwar acxmof the offshme tim. l’hese dischargescontainclays,

61
 P

RJ39EDIATICN
OF THE (X3NTAMINATEII
OCE?WFiiR
2 OFFSKRE PLATNMYS 1 THE GULF OF MEXICO
AFUxlND SEW 251!;7

hydrocarbons,
organicand inorganic A smple of waterdischaqed back to
aMitives, swh as barite,polymers, the oceanwas analyzedwith a gai
and Chranate[1,5]
● chrcmtographd was found+m lx e a
wide rangeof arcmtic and puaff’ I
The sedinumton the ocean floornear hydrocarbonswith a totalhydromrbn
an offshoreproductionplatformsuch concentrationof 841.1~. The re-
asinthe Gulfof Micois amix- sultsare shornin Tables1 and 2. Itis
tureof gravels,brokenoystershells, interestingto see that thereis 158.5
sandand silt. It has a smll similar ppn of benzenein the returningwater.
to thatof dieseloil.A chenical
analysisof the sedhmt was performd Gravelfrm shaleshakersand the mix-
usingthe gravimetric methodrevealing tureof sandand silt fmn desanders
the totalhydmcabm s of the sediment are collectedand storedin sludge
mnple to be 3,480ppn. ‘IWs is a con- tZiZlkS
. ~rOXiJ!Eltdy 300 bbl (47,696
servativefigure,sincea portionof liters)of thesesolidsare collected
lighth~s mY k= boil~ off eachday and storedin the barge’s
h the analysisusingthe gravimtric threesludgetanks.After fourdays of
Inetl%)d
[4]. _ the= h~ns operation, when thesetanksare full,
in the sedtit benzeneand tolume the b~eistowed back ti the shore
were identifiedas toxicpollutants to eqty these*s, ‘l%econtentsare
in the EPA’stoxicpollutit list.No thendischaqed ti an incineration
analyslsfor heavymetalswas per- plant.It takesapproximately tm days
formd at this tire. tien@ya ndc MnthethreeWks. A
crew of fourpersonsare enployedon
CLEANIWTH ECCEANFKKM the barge,and the cost of the retire
operationis approximately $30,000per
Thetechnologyused bclean the mean week.
floornearplatfoms in the Gulf ot
I’&xitiis shmn in Figures1 and 2. It ‘l%isprojecthas its successand Mni-
is basif.ally
a seriesof mchanical tation.The recoveryof 300 bbl/day
separations.When a decisionis mde (47,696liters/day) of solidsand
to cleanthe oceanfloorof a given ssdimnt frun the oceanfloor,which
platform,a bargewith cleaningFaci- contain3480pEIRof hydrocarbons and
litiesis towedto the area.A suction sme heavymetals (baritesand others) ,
devicewith a hose is l-red b the is its importantsuccess.Sincethe
cceanfloorb takewateralongwith processusesmechanicalseparations,
gravels,sandand siltat the rateof it camot removethe dissolvedhydr-
300 gpn (1136litershnin]as shuwnin ocarbons.
Figure1. TW shaleshakersare used
to separatelargepiecesof gravels AIR FUYIWJ!ION
and sandparticles.‘l& influentto
shakersoftenhas a smellsimilarto Figure3 showsa mdified cleaning
thatof dieselfuel.As shornin process,which is the resultof experi-
Figure2, the mixtureof water,sand mentaldata and a feasibilitystudy.
and silt,afterbeingseparatedfrm @ desanderis replacxxl ~ a rotaq
coarsesolidsin the shale shakers, vacum filterto reducethe amunt of
is fed to *sanders where sandad a water in tie sludge.Aftercoarse
partof * siltare separatedfran solidsare separatedby a shaleshaker,
the water. Watercontainingapprox- solidsare retuned to the ocean,and
imately5% of silt is dischargedb watercontainingsilt is fed to a
a largesettlingtankwhilewater in rotaryvacum filter.The siltalong
thetopof thesettlingtankis re- with insolubleorganiccuqxxmis is
mvedadd ischargedtotheocaan separatedfrm wateras filtercake.
ma-c Basedon the previouse~riences, the
●

SPE 25157 C. S. FANG 3

amunt of filtercake is approxi- showsthe resultsof bench-scaleair

mately300 bbl/day,with approxi- stri~ing tests.The testsdemonstrate
mately3480~ of O~FUliC ccxn- the reductionof benzeneconcentration
pounds. The filterarea is 88.5ft2 at variousretentiontimesin a batch
(8.22m2) for the fluw rateof 300 operation.
gpn. The cost of rckaryvacuumfil-
ter is $42,500(1992). Basedon the laboratoryanalysisand
volubility data [7]givenin Tables1
Filtercake is storedand later and 2, the concentrationof water solu-
shippedback to an onlandfacili~ ble organicccnpounds,which imclude
for treatment.If theseparaffins, heptane(12. Oppn),octane (14~,
franmnane tooctacosane,and in- saturatd),benzene(158.5ppn)~ toluene
solubleamnatics, are judgedto be (7.8ppn) and xylenes(14.1~) , is
envimrnnmtily acc@table in the 206 ppn. l!heconcentrationof emulsified
oceanfloor,filtercake can be dis- organicccqounds is 634.7ppn. The
chargedto the Ocm. totalorganicccrq?ounds in waterfed to
the air flotationunit is 841.1ppn.
Thereare thzeegrcp of ozganic Thesewatersolubleorganicampmnds
~. The firs~one is insolu- are volatile.
ble ox capumls adsorbd on
* surfaceof fine solids.The The mst ccnnmnpracticein a full
secundand thirdores are soluble scaleaix flo-tion unit is to run it
and tisif ied oqanic ocmpounds. with 10 to 15 minuteretentiontime.
~ first_ is separatedfran Basedon this,it is reasonableto ex-
the Strezmlby filtrationas indi- pect thatone half of dissolvedorganic
Catedabovee’l! heothertmgroups ccwpounds(103ppn) is strippedfrun
are stillim the water,~h is water,and the otherhalf remainsin
~ to an air flotationunit: water.Withoutfurtherexperiments, it
The majorconcexnin thisnmdified is assunedthatall emulsifiedorganic
clesningprocessis benzene, ~S (634.7ppn) are nmvedby fine
tilueneand xylene,whichare wter air bubblesto the surfaceof waterand
solubleas skwn in Tables1 and 2. renmvedfranthe streamby a mechanical
deviceof the flotationunit.

Air flotation,eitherinducedair CARBCNADSORPTION

flotation(IAF)or dissolvedair
flotition(DAF),has been kn9wnto Waterand air caningout the air flota-
removetisified oil frcmwater tion w‘ t are treatedwith activa&d
&fectively. Fielddab shows carbon,as shownin Figure3. After
*t it am redwe enmilsified oil treatments, air is ventedto the atm-
fmmnseveralhundredppnto50~ sphereand water is dischargedto the
or less.The separationefficiency, ocean.
acco~ to E%enfelder[6],varies
frm 70% to 93%.‘m? mm recent Sincethe flarenear a producingoil
unpublisheddata frunan IN? vendor platformis not allowed,not for a
indicatea higherefficiencywith senice cunpanyanyway,an activated
an inprovedejector. carbonadsorptionunit is neededto
recovertheseoryanicccmpoundsstrip-
Racently,air pollutionwas found ped off frunwater.&u# on the ad-
to ramve sunsof the dissolved sorbability of benzene,which is 0.080
Ogic ~ - * gram benzeneper gram carbon[8], 194
phenmma of gas-liquidinter@ase pounds (87.9 kg) per hourof activated
mass transfer.It, in effect,is a carbonis needed.
processof air stripping.Figure4

63
 #

RmEmATIcN a? lm ~ OCEANFUIOR
4 AIUXNDCMTSMXE PIlAml?4SrNTllEGULF OF A’4EXICXI SPE 25157

intercontaining103 ppl organicCaw —.

poundsal-n-~~e
treatmmt. If granularactivatedcar- 1] Menzie,C.A,, “TheEnvironmental
bon (GAC),with Fmundlich iso InyM2ationsof OffshoreOil and
constantsK = 730 (pg/g)(pg/1)P n and us Activities,” Environ.
Sci.Tech.
,
n = 0.61,is used,the optim.an design 16, M. 8 (1982),pp 454A-472A.
istouse tm parallelsetsofcarbcm
cells.Each set has * cabon cells 2] Hileman,B., “OffshoreOil Drilling,
”
mnnectd in series.All fourcarbon Environ.
Sci.Tech.,15, No. 11 (1981)
cellsare identical.If the service ~. 1259-1263.
- of carbonis 726 Imurs,influent
and effluentconcentrations are, res- [31Nesbit.t,L.E. and J.A. &UldfXS,
pectively,100 pgnland 5 ppn, plysical “Drilling FluidDispsal,” JPT,
dimensionsof each carbonbed are 6.53 m. 1981,~. 2377-2381.
feet (1.99m) lmg and 6.51f=t (1.98
m) in diameter. [4]Fang,C.S. and S.A. Smith,Jr.,
“Cleaningof the OceanFloorNear
‘Itle
cost of thiswatertreatlmxlt
, OffshorePlatformsin the Gulf
inchding filtrationd adsorption Cbast,“ En- -SS (Vol.
6,
but excltiingflotation,is $5.85per Nc. 1), March 1986,p. 37-39.
1000gallons(3785liters)of water,
basedcm 5 year semice lifeand 3000 [51Gray,G.R., H.C.H.~ley, Imposi-
knlrsper year operation. tionand ~ ‘esof Oil *11
DrillingFluids,4th ed., Gulf
Spentactivatd carboncan be bxought (1980)
.
back to an onlaxdregeneraticm facil-
ity ~ ~~ tin for ~c [6]Eckenfelder,Jr.,W .W.,Principles
The regenerationof spentactivated of WaterQuality Managemrlt
, CBN
carbonis a very inymtant factorin Pub.co., Eoston,M (1980).
thisprocess.A aarbn regenerator
usingelectricalresistancehaters [7] Seidell,A., Sohbility of Organic
is reportedti be able to regenerate -~, 3ti ed., vo~. 11,
spentcaxtxmat $0.06per @ (1984) Van Nostrand(1941) .
wi&d ,~ 4% carbonloss [9].
{81(hlWi3y,
R.A. and R.D. ROW,
,Handkmok
of Industrial Waste

A feasibility st@y was oonductedwith -V” ‘Str”d ‘“”d

m experimentalWorkr scm field
data,and ~ ccmqnltercalculations [9]ChemicalEngineerir@,
i’eb.6, 1984,
usingthe literature data in the pub- p. 35,
lic danai.n.It ccmckied that a bstter
cleaningpxucesscan be develo@ with
air flotationand carbonadsorption
technologies. & cost is on the high
side,but the decisionmay not entirely
_ On the financialaspect.The
st@y suggeststhat it is Wrthwhile
to coduct a pilot-plant studyto
gatherKOre firmengineering and eco-
ncxnicdata for the designof a full-
scde facility.

64
 mad Table 2 Arumtics l!burdin Waber
Table 1 ?araffi.ns k Ua=

Paraff&ls RJurd. SAability

\
Annlati.cs —— Foink Volubility

~ Cfi 158.5 ~ 1750 p

Heptxm2(c+ 12.0 ~ Sogpll
ml- (X3 7.8 546 p
&tare (C*] 38.6 14

Wmarm2 (Ca) 2.7 =0 b

.
irmduble 0 = 0.8669
9.0 (20”C)
0.8 in.Xyl.ene 6.6 161

~.8 Q-xyleme 7.5 161

= o
1.9 Pmpyl-~ 10.2
C9%2
9.4 b
hlsolubk?
4.6 I
M!?sitylene 1.8
6.4
Butyl—Beuem2 0.8
38.2
Hexyl—Benzene 0.6
17.5
wtyl+emene 3.8
25.6
DeJsyl—Bfmzene 22.4
96.0

54.5

66.7

93.5

150.0

1.2

0.7
 SPE25157 *
Separationand
StorageFac.!.lity
on Barge

-’”
300 gpm Water
with CoarseSolids,
Sand,and Silt

Figure1 Bargewith Separation

Facility

waterand Solids
frcmOceanFloor
— Desander

S-hale
Shaker

Waterand
f Silt.

COal%3e
Solids
I I
1t Discharge

$mdge Trm.k SettlingTank

Figure2 Mechanical Separation on Barge

66
300 gpllwater ad solids
FranWan Floor
Air

I ShaleShaker

w
F&may
Filter
841 ~
* ‘1”

barse *lids
W(kean

Figure 3 KbiifiedClean@ ProcessW CEean

TreatedWata

2000
Benzene+latersolution:
1000

E
●
500

i! 200
Air Flow

10
o 20 40 60
Time of Air Strimi.ng,
MirI,

Figure4 Air Stri@rq in Batch I@?ration