Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D7/00—Compositions of detergents based essentially on non-surface-active compounds
  • C11D7/50—Solvents
  • C11D7/5004—Organic solvents
  • C11D7/5022—Organic solvents containing oxygen
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/16—Organic compounds
  • C11D3/18—Hydrocarbons
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D3/00—Other compounding ingredients of detergent compositions covered in group C11D1/00
  • C11D3/16—Organic compounds
  • C11D3/20—Organic compounds containing oxygen
  • C11D3/2068—Ethers
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D7/00—Compositions of detergents based essentially on non-surface-active compounds
  • C11D7/22—Organic compounds
  • C11D7/24—Hydrocarbons
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C11—ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES OR WAXES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; DETERGENTS; CANDLES
  • C11D—DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL
  • C11D7/00—Compositions of detergents based essentially on non-surface-active compounds
  • C11D7/22—Organic compounds
  • C11D7/26—Organic compounds containing oxygen
  • C11D7/263—Ethers

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a surface cleansing composition for removing oil adherent to surfaces e.g. rock cuttings produced during drilling operations for oil.
• Rock cuttings are produced during normal drilling operations.
• the drilling fluids used in these operations normally carry these cuttings away from the drill bit up the annulus, between the drill pipe and the bore hole to the mud line and then to the drilling platform. If rock cuttings are not removed, periodically at least, they will build up in the drilling mud closed loop to the detriment of the drilling process as a whole.
• a solids control system as part of this loop.
• the larger cuttings are usually removed by screen shakers and the sand and silt are removed by using hydrocyclones.
• When the fine colloidal solids build up in the mud they are generally removed by centrifugation in association with either an aqueous surfactant wash or dilution with base oil.
• the present invention is a water dispersible formulation suitable for use as a cleansing agent, said formulation comprising at least one ether alcohol, water and a hydrocarbon in a single phase in a percent weight ratio range of ether alcohol (90-50) : water (2-36) : hydrocarbon (25-0.9) and wherein the ether alcohol is of the formula R1O(RO) n H (I) in which R is a C1-C4 alkylene group, n is at least 1, and R1 is a C1-C4 alkyl or an aryl group.
• the single phase formulation referred to above can be prepared by mixing at ambient temperature and pressure, water, kerosine and the ether alcohol in a percent weight ratio range of 3-60 : 0.9-60 : 10-90 respectively.
• the middle phase of the three phases is the desired water dispersible formulation usable as a cleansing agent.
• the water component of the formulation may be fresh water but in some cases it may be necessary to use saline water in order to aid middle phase formation.
• saline water' as used herein is meant that the water contains one or more ionisable salts.
• salts include the halides and sulphates of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, ammonium and tetra alkyl ammonium ions.
• a typical example of saline water is sea water.
• the water component of the formulation may thus contain from 0-5% w/w of the ionisable salts, preferably from 0.2-5% w/w of the salts. It is preferable to use saline water with ethoxypropoxy propanol or phenoxypropanol whereas fresh water is preferable when using 2-butoxyethanol or a mixture thereof with ethoxy propanol or ethoxypropoxy propanol. If phenoxypropoxypropanol is used, especially if the latter contains small amounts of phenoxy propanol, either saline water or fresh water can be used.
• a fines suppressant such as amino compounds which may be organic or inorganic.
• amino compounds which may be organic or inorganic.
• this effect may be achieved by the ammonium salts referred to above, e.g. ammonium chloride or by compounds such as polyalkylene imines eg. polyethylene imine, tetraalkyl ammonium halides, eg. tetra-methyl,-ethyl,-propyl,-butyl or -pentyl ammonium chloride, and tris(hydroxymethyl) methylamine.
• hydrocarbon as used herein is meant to include any hydrocarbon fraction or mixtures thereof boiling in the range of 100-320°C and containing predominantly paraffinic hydrocarbons.
• hydrocarbons include kerosine, BP83HF (ex.BP), decane and mixtures thereof.
• R is preferably a C2-C4 alkylene group and n preferably has a value from 1-4.
• the ether alcohol may be 2-butoxyethanol, ethoxyethoxy-propanol, ethoxypropoxy-propanol, propoxyethoxy-propanol, propoxypropoxy-propanol, butoxyethoxyethanol butoxy butoxyethanol, phenoxy propanol and phenoxypropoxy propanol and mixtures thereof.
• One or more of these ethers can be used in combination with ethoxy propanol. Ethoxypropoxy propanol is however preferred.
• the references to 'ether alcohols' containing 3 or more carbon atoms in the alkyl chain will include mixtures of one or more isomers.
• the propoxyl units in an ether alcohol may include secondary propoxyl units.
• oil in this context is meant to include mineral oils, vegetable oils, synthetic hydrocarbon based lubricants/oils and greases.
• formulations can be used either as such or in conjunction with additives such as adhesion promoters, corrosion inhibitors, biocides, demulsifiers and the like.
• the contaminated surface can be cleaned by contact with the cleansing formulation e.g. by immersion of the contaminated surface into the formulation, or by wiping the contaminated surface with the formulation, or by spraying the latter on the contaminated surface.
• the cleansing procedure used in general terms for deoiling rock cuttings associated with drilling for crude oil is as follows: The single phase, water dispersible formulation comprising the three components is brought into contact with the surface, e.g. rock cuttings, contaminated with oil. Thereafter, the liquid phase is separated from the deoiled surface by e.g. pressure filtration or centrifugation.
• the liquid filtrate then separates into an oily phase and a formulation phase comprising the ether alcohol, water and kerosine.
• This solvent phase can be reused for cleansing further contaminated surfaces.
• the residual deoiled surface e.g. rock cuttings can subsequently be washed off with any conventional solvents.
• formulations disclosed herein and their use is directed primarily towards removal of oil from drill cuttings
• these formulations can be used equally effficiently to cleanse electronic components, army tanks, ships tanks, pumps and the like to remove oils, waxes, greases, rosin precipitates and the like.
• formulations can also be used to displace water and to remove particles from surfaces. Adsorbed organic molecules may also be removed.
• the cleansing formulation used in this case was made by simply mixing the specific chemicals as shown in Table 1 at room temperature, hand shaking and then allowing the mixture to separate into three phases. Cyclohexane was used in the mixture to aid phase separation in the mixture.
• the middle phase (the cleansing formulation) was extracted and used for the cleaning tests.
• This middle phase contained ethoxypropoxy propanol (EDP, ex BP Chemicals), water, cyclohexane and kerosine in the ratios shown in Table 1.
• Table 1 Cleansing Formulation Component in mixture Wt% of Components in the three phases Upper Middle Lower Sea Water 1.4 17.4 60.5 Cyclohexane 17.4 4.0 1.5 Kerosine 41.5 7.9 ND Ethoxypropoxypropanol* 39.7 70.7 38.0 *The purity of this material was ca 87.0%
• a sample of drill cuttings contaminated with drilling mud (1-2g) referred to above was dispersed in 10 mls of the cleansing formulation, then pressure filtered at 20 psi in a Millipore stainless steel filter holder with a Whatman No. 5 filter.
• the mud cuttings were subsequently washed with two 30 ml aliquots of synthetically simulated sea water and similarly pressure filtered.
• the oil remaining on the cuttings after this cleansing treatment was then determined by extracting with two 50 ml aliquots of carbon tetrachloride and the level of oil measured by infra-red absorbance on a calibrated Miran IIA spectrophotometer. The weight of dry, extracted/deoiled residue was noted and residual oil quoted as g oil/kg dry residue.
• the performance of the cleansing formulation of the present invention was compared with that of the conventional cleansing processes. Further samples of oily mud cuttings from the same source, as tested previously, were again dispersed in (i) aqueous surfactant solution (5%w/w aqueous solution of Byprox (Registered Trade Mark)), a dodecyl benzene sulphonate surfactant marketed by The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. and (ii) kerosine, then filtered, washed and solvent extracted in the same manner as previously.
• aqueous surfactant solution 5%w/w aqueous solution of Byprox (Registered Trade Mark)
• Byprox aqueous solution of Byprox (Registered Trade Mark)
• kerosine a dodecyl benzene sulphonate surfactant marketed by The British Petroleum Company p.l.c.
• the slurries were mixed for 30 seconds using a high shear mixer. Aliquots of the cuttings/cleaner slurry were then subjected to centrifugal force (MSE minor centrifuge, 2000 rpm for 5 minutes). The resulting samples exhibited the presence of three distinct phases ie rock sediment, cleaner and recovered oil. The volumes of each could be measured to give an indication of efficiency of oil removal and a measure of the rock sediment volume to give a level of effectiveness of added fines supressing agents.
• a 30% w/w slurry of oily cuttings in cleaner was fed to a laboratory scale decanting centrifuge (supplied by Thomas Broadbent and Sons Ltd, Huddersfield, UK) at 10-12 litres min ⁇ 1, and separated under a centrifugal force equivalent to 500 times gravity.
• the treated solids produced were analysed for oil content by mud retort.
• the oily drill cuttings used in these experiments were from a land based well, had an average diameter of ⁇ 3mm and were contaminated by 45% w/w oil from oil based drilling mud.

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Citations (3)

• 1989
  • 1989-02-16 EP EP89301534A patent/EP0330379A3/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1989-02-21 AU AU30151/89A patent/AU601897B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1989-02-23 JP JP4499589A patent/JPH01263200A/ja active Pending
  • 1989-02-24 DK DK86489A patent/DK86489A/da unknown
  • 1989-02-24 NO NO89890787A patent/NO890787L/no unknown

Patent Citations (3)

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