Plasma technology to reduce industrial oil sands waste in landfills

Drill cuttings and lime sludge are significant waste streams generated by in situ oil sands operations, and sent to landfills. This project evaluated plasma technology for its use in transforming these wastes into renewable products such as aggregate and fiber insulation and as a result reducing the amount of these wastes that are sent to landfills. The project was conducted from 2014 to 2016 in 4 steps: (1) a pilot to evaluate the use of drill cuttings in place of glass shards to provide the silica source in Plasma Power’s process, (2) a pilot to evaluate the use of lime sludge in place of quicklime as an additive in Plasma Power’s process, (3) a prototype of a material handling system to continuously transfer the waste into the plasma chamber, and (4) a FEED study to develop a commercial preliminary plant design, construction estimate and build time.

(1) Drill Cuttings Remediation Report 2014: The test program to safely convert Devon’s drill cuttings into clean renewable products was highly successful. Numerous renewable products were manufactured. The drill cuttings easily vitrified in the Plasma Power process; (2) Lime Sludge Remediation Report 2015: The test program to safely convert Devon’s lime sludge into clean renewable fiber was highly successful. The lime sludge easily vitrified in the Plasma Power process; (3) Enhanced FEED Work Package 1, Report 2015: The testing was more successful than planned and the empirical data supports the continuation of the Enhanced FEED Study. We were able to successfully convert the drill cuttings into renewable products using the PAV technology; (4) Drill Cuttings Facility FEED Study Design Document 2016: This report substantiates previously issued financial models that demonstrate the long term benefits of processing SAGD waste streams using this new technique.