67    REMEDIATION OF OIL/GAS DRILLING WASTES:
LABORATORY AND FIELD VALIDATION EMPLOYING
THE TI/USA FLY ASH STABILIZATION PROCESS
T. Rick Irvin, Associate Professor
Institute for Environmental Studies
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Ben E. Files, Manager of Operations
Trent Lassigne, Field Engineer
Integrated Technical Services, Inc.
Turner Industries, LTD,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808
INTRODUCTION
Recent national attention has been focused on management of nonhazardous oil field wastes
(NOW) located at active oil and gas production facilities as well as inactive/abandoned drilling
facilities. NOW material, which contaminates pits, ponds, and lagoons at oil and gas drilling locations
throughout the US, has received renewed regulatory interest in recent years due to concerns regarding
environmental effects of several NOW components.1 Traditionally, NOW material has three target
components which must be managed for successful closure of a nonhazardous waste-contaminated
site:
1. petroleum hydrocarbons —NOW materials commonly contain an oil and grease content
ranging from greater than 3% to over 20% oil and grease by weight. Traditional remediation standards for this contaminant can require reduction of the oil and grease content
to less than 3%; recently-adopted state requirements for NOW management however
often require hydrocarbon content to be less than 1% by weight.
2. metals —NOW sludges commonly contain high levels of barium at concentrations
exceeding 80,000 ppm.1 The spectra of additional toxic metals found at high levels in
NOW pit material vary depending on the location from which the material originated.
Toxic metals commonly found as contaminants in NOW material include:
-mercury -chromium -lead
-arsenic -cadmium -barium
3. pH —acidity and alkalinity of NOW waste are often a problem due to contamination
with materials which decrease the pH to values as low as 1.4.
Under the 1980 amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress
issued a specific, temporary exemption from RCRA regulation to "drilling fluids, produced waters,
and other wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of crude oil or natural
gas or geothermal energy."2 Review of these exemptions in 1987 by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) found that EPA may consider undertaking cooperative efforts with States to review
and improve the design, implementation, and enforcement of existing State and Federal programs to
manage oil and gas wastes. At that time, EPA justification for review of NOW regulations and
environmental management practices was based in part on observations that:
1. then available NOW management practices varied in their environmental performance
and efficacy, and
2. environmental damage from NOW discharge could occur even where NOW material
was managed in accordance with applicable state and federal regulations.
Conventional treatment methods for NOW material, summarized in Table I, can be subdivided
according to whether they permit onsite and off site treatment. Containerization of NOW sludges and
49th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1994 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.
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