Providing Global Resource Remediation and
Recovery Solutions
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Introduction
Saxon Petrotechnologies
and Petromax provide cost
effective solutions specialized in
Ecuador Amazon Region
•
mobilizing crude waste streams,
•
waste minimization,
•
ease of handling down stream,
and
•
pre-conditioning crude sludge
for optimum separation
processing.
Hydro blasting Petromax into crude tank sludge samples to
mobilize the sludge and eliminate sticking to surfaces
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About Petromax
Products
Breaking water out of produced oil
Petromax products are
• water-based proprietary
• non-toxic,
• non-flammable, and
• environmentally safe
formulations
designed to remove
hydrocarbons from
surfaces in such a manner
as to not allow the oils to
re-attach.
Breaking mature fine tailings emulsion from
Suncor’s Pond One in Alberta, Canada
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Petromax applications
are a combination of
• specific chemical
components and
• related mechanical
applications.
Petromax tailing pond remediation testing at the University
of Southern California USA Environmental Laboratory
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Categories of Use
• Crude tanks
Before
After
• Waste pits & Lagoons
• Railcars
Unocal Remediation Effort at Guadalupe Beach, CA , USA
• Tankers
• Surface cleaning
• Sand cleaning
Valero Refinery, Wilmington, CA , USA
Tank Cleaning
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Resource remediation and recovery are evaluated as part of any
solution and a Petromax application may be combined with
conventional technologies to enhance their existing processes.
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Petromax can be utilized to enhance, or de-bottleneck, existing
sophisticated sludge handling/remediation facilities ........ aimed
also at improving end products and disposal components.
Initial testing introduced by hydro blasting
sludge in enclosed 5 gallon buckets followed
by bench top centrifuging.
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Cleaning Clays in Ecuador
Lab testing oil contaminated clays for hydro carbon removal at
ambient temperature ……… at the University in Ambato, Ecuador
This laboratory clay sample testing was conducted using
Petromax and a hand held mixer at ambient temperature.
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Testing clays for remediation work in
Ecuador
Before clays are cleaned of oil
Mechanical shearing with hand held mixer using Petromax solution
Results within seconds
of shearing application
Petromax water based formulation bench
test application at ambient temperature
to remove oil from clay
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Cleaning Soils in Ecuador
1 Oil contaminated soil
2 Hydro blasting with Petromax solution
3 Oil rises to water surface
Recovered Sand & Clays
Preparing to do a field sample test
using a hydro blaster
In this field test the oil has been hydro
blasted off the soil with a Petromax
water-based solution at ambient
temperature. After the application the
oil is floating on top of the water.
The oil is removed from the soil in
seconds and will not re-attach to the
solids within the aqueous solution.
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An Environmental Breakthrough for the Oil
and Tar Sands Bitumen Recovery Industry
The following two slides are from ongoing work related to
the oil sands and tar sands petroleum industry.
•
• The objective is to utilize a Petromax cold water process
to remove bitumen in both water-wet and oil-wet conditions.
• Further, such a Petromax sand cleaning/oil recovery
process will not create a tailings emulsion.
• Water recovery, soils/clay compaction, and energy savings
becomes a dramatic plus over the current process in Alberta,
Canada.
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Syncrude Oil Sands Production and
Suncor Tailings Pond Sample Testing
Tailing Pond Remediation
Oil Recovery
Before
After
Canadian oil sands - water wet.
Suncor (Tailing Ponds, Alberta, Canada)
MFT Pond One 3-Phase Separation
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Oil-Wet Bitumen Removal from Utah Tar Sands
Dr. Geoff Dolbear
Our oil sands projects are headed up by Dr. Geoff Dolbear
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Sand Cleaning/Remediation
This picture shows a before and after sample testing of California’s
Guadalupe Beach sand that was at a UNOCAL production site. The
removal of hydrocarbons (light oils) was accomplished in less than a
minute using a water-based formula at ambient temperature.
Guadalupe Beach
Sand Before
Guadalupe Beach
Sand After
Associated Laboratories
certified results:
Contaminated soil 4,620 ppm TPH
Cleaned soil 190 ppm TPH
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Crude Sludge Mobilization,
both up stream and down stream, is
typically the first problem encountered in crude waste handling. The final
objective is often focused on remediation and recovery and therefore
Petromax seeks to optimize at each step along the way.
A few key enhancements gained from our application as listed below:
• Once the crude sludge is mobilized/conditioned it will not stick within hoses or
secondary containment.
• The minimized waste stream will remain suspended and pumpable.
• Heat is not required as part of the application.
• If inorganics are within the waste stream then partial cleaning of these solids
will have already began.
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Tank Crude Sludge Mobilization
THUMS Island Production Wells, CA USA
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What is clean-up going to be like?
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Recovery or Disposal?
One opportunity for recovery is to enhance a decanter or centrifuge operation.
That is to say, the crude sludge that has been mobilized with a Petromax
application will have already started the oil, water, solids separation process
and will continue to do so in a mix tank just prior to the mechanical separation
equipment or with added inline shearing.
The mechanical separation process will now be more efficient.
The resulting cake will be more liquid free and cleaner.
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Oil Recovery Secondary Containment
• The Petromax conditioned crude sludge that will be held in
secondary containment (awaiting the decanting/centrifuge process)
will remain mobilized for easy transferring to a mix tank.
• The footprint of such an operation will be smaller since the
waste stream has been significantly minimized as compared
to a conventional waste handling process.
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Solids/Liquid Separation Sludge Testing
Tests completed by US Filter showed that Petromax conditioned sludge
did not require the addition of polymers during a dewatering process.
This allows the dewatering technician to more easily dial-in his process,
as well as, reduce the dewatering costs.
The net results, as tested by US Filter on their dewatering equipment,
yielded a significantly drier cake. Instead of the usual 30% to 40%liquid
content on typical filter tests, the conditioned sludge yielded result of
17.5%.
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Paraffin and Asphaltene Sludge
Crude sludge of this nature are particularly problematic to handle.
Conventionally, a combination of heat, diluents, and high volume
circulation are used to blend and transfer these types of sludge.
Some heavies will remain in a tank and entry will be required for
sludge removal prior to inspection.
Petromax utilizes a low volume micro encapsulation application
(without the use of heat) to rapidly mobilize, within seconds, and
remove this type of sludge.
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What are we trying to accomplish with these tough sludges?
• Our chemical solution is
water-based (does not
contain surfactants) and does
not mix with the crude, nor do
we want it to.
• What we have done is rely upon the
hydro blasting pressure and close
proximity chemical impact to break up
the paraffin or asphalt sludge for the
purpose of encapsulation.
Malaysia Petronas refinery tank crude sample
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The result is a very pumpable slurry without
added heat to the application.
This is a successful water-based application on a very waxy
crude sludge sample from Petronas refinery in Malaysia.
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Since there are variations from one sludge to another we must
test representative samples to determine proper formulation.
Ongoing sample testing Pemex Salinas Refinery, Mexico
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Video of a paraffin sludge sample
being tested with Petromax
Delek Refinery, TX USA
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Heavy Solids Sludge Mobilization
Aera Energy, CA USA
The next video shows a Petromax sludge removal application on
free water knockout tank. The solids content is very high (over
70%) with very little hydrocarbons in the mix.
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Heavy Solids Sludge Mobilization Application
Area Energy, CA
USA
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Coker Unit Crude Sludge Recovery
Within an oil refinery both T&D and handling costs for crude waste streams are high.
• Conventional methods of sludge removal and processing are both manpower and
equipment intensive.
• These methods create costly repetitive and laborious activities.
• When such methods are utilized, the sludge literally has to be double handled
(again outside the tank) at a cost significantly greater than the original removal cost.
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Petromax advantages of disposing to a refinery coker:
• Petromax Sludge Conditioning is a waste minimization process without
the cost of dewatering when taken to a refinery coker unit.
• Fewer temporary storage tanks are required.
• Conditioned sludge remains suspended and pumpable throughout the
refinery coker injection transfer schedule.
• Time consuming and additional waste generating vacuum truck wash
outs are all but eliminated.
• The conditioned sludge handling application allows the operational tank
to be returned to service safer, faster, and in oil free condition.
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Petromax Pipeline Drag Reduction
Currently Petromax Technologies is testing pipeline
drag reduction applications in Southern California, USA
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Saxon Petrotechnologies
Saxon Technologies, Sarl
Place Bel-Air 4
1260 Nyon 1
Switzerland
Tel: +41-22-548-1946
Fax: +41-22-362-5557
Email:
svb@saxontech.com
Scot von Bergen
A solutions oriented company
serving oil recovery and remediation needs worldwide
www.saxon-technologies.com
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