The use of oil-based mud cuttings as an alternative raw material to produce high sulfate-resistant oil well cement

Oil-based mud (OBM) is used during the oil well drilling processes to cool drilling pits and remove the cuttings. As a result of these processes, the oil-based mud (OBM) cuttings are produced. The composition of the OBM cuttings depends on the geological conditions of the boreholes and the OBM used during the drilling operation. In this study, the OBM cuttings were used as an alternative material to produce a special cement known as oil-well cement (OWC). Raw meal mixtures were prepared with various percentages of OBM cuttings (5, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20%). Then they were sintered up to a temperature of 1450 °C, and the resulting cement clinker was ground to produce highly sulfate resistant OWC. The burnability of the raw meal was studied to explore the effect of OBM cuttings on raw meal behavior during the clinkerization process. The results of the study indicated a decrease in the decarbonation temperature and an increase in the rate of clinkerization as the OBM cuttings increased. The produced cement was tested per American Petroleum Institute’s testing procedure for OWC. Also, the cement hydration for 2, 7 and 28 days was carried out to study the behavior of the produced OWC

Use of excess heat from ethylene recycling in a low-density polyethylene production plant

The recovery of the wasted heat is an effective way of improving the energy efficiency of industry sites and can contribute to the reduction of the operating costs and the CO2 emissions. In the production of low density polyethylene, the polymerisation reaction is carried out with a large excess of ethylene at very high pressure. The excess ethylene is separated at an intermediate pressure (around 280 bar and 310 °C) and then it is recycled. In this recycle, the stream is cooled in several steps to temperatures close to 35 °C before being recompressed. In some units, the first cooling is carried out with air coolers up to temperatures around 130 °C. In a unit with a recycle of 33 t/h, this cooling corresponds to releasing to the atmosphere about 4.6 MW of thermal power. We present a study of different alternatives for the use of this excess heat. We studied the implementation of a refrigeration cycle by absorption with LiBr/H2O, the production of steam and the electricity generation by Rankine and Kalina cycles. The Aspen HYSYS process simulator was used to study the different alternatives. The capital cost was estimated for each of the evaluated options as well as the benefits expected to be obtained. In the study conditions, the absorption refrigeration cycle is the best solution presenting a return period of 3 years.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio