Drying of Drill Cuttings: Emphasis on Energy Consumption and Thermal Analysis

Drill cuttings, contaminated with drilling fluids, are characterized by their high moisture content, which can cause problems for collection, storage, and transportation. Additionally, the practice of disposing waste with high moisture content into sanitary landfills is undesirable and mostly forbidden. For that reason, drying of waste with high moisture content, such as drill cuttings, is an essential operation. In this work, microwave and conveyor belt drying processes for drying drill cuttings containing water-based drilling fluids were examined in a lab-scale study. The results of the study indicated that the microwave dryer has been shown to be advantageous in terms of time and energy consumption for drying of thin film layers, while the conveyor drying system was more appropriate for bulk drying