bulk handling/tank cleaning
drill cuttings issue on a process level, and see a need for efficient processes on the drilling rigs, PSVs and ashore,” noting that PG-MACS has proven itself on offshore vessels in the North Sea such as Farstad’s Far Serenade. “PG-MACS is a proven concept,” he explained, “but the rig-to-ship, and ship-to- shore processes need to be refined. Everybody working close to this issue understands that we need to void the pneumatic DC-handling units, in lieu of efficient pumping solutions, to speed up and avoid blockages caused by air-plugs. That is what PG-MACS is all about at the moment.” Mr Norum said that, originally, Putzmeister
was collaborating with another well-known company in the market for bulk handling for tanks for PSVs, but the company had recently chosen to work with PG Marine instead. “We hooked up with them because we could see the need for high-volume/high-pressure
Tank cleaning reduces costs
As Alfa Laval points out, drilling mud is a demanding cargo for the offshore vessels that have to carry it and for drilling rigs that store and use it. Mud has to be circulated in order to prevent solids settling on the bottom of the tank. If regular tank cleaning is not carried out a layer of material will build up and can be very time consuming and a difficult task to clean. Cleaning mud tanks can be done manually by the crew with the vessel’s own or rented tank cleaning equipment or it can be done by a contractor. Manual cleaning can easily take 12-36 hours. A scaffold has to be built and the tanks manually cleaned, at great expense and potential risk to cleaning personnel. This makes the use of tank cleaning equipment an attractive option, one that Alfa Laval says can reduce tank cleaning costs by 60 per cent and reduce turnaround time to less than an hour. A standard system includes a dual nozzle ‘TCM’ tank cleaning machine in each tank, a plate heat exchanger (PHE) to heat the water used to clean the tank, a hot water pump to feed the PHE, a pump to feed the TCM, a chemical pump to feed detergent to the water supply, a discharge pump to strip the tanks after cleaning, a Duplex filter and starter cabinet for the pumps.
“In addition to saving time and money, using a tank cleaning system of this type has a number of benefits,” says Alfa Laval, including ensuring the same high level of results each time and reduced slops, which reduces slop handling costs; and last but not least, the force of the water jet from the TCM is especially useful for hard to remove material such as barite.
54 I Offshore Support Journal I June 2012 PG Marine and Putzmeister are looking at a seabed-to-shore solution for drill cuttings
Centrifuge technology enhances waste handling
As Severn Trent de Nora notes, since the January 2010 implementation of the International Maritime Organization’s MEPC.159(55) effluent discharge regulations, the marine and offshore oil and gas industry has been examining the logistics of solids/ sludge handling requirements associated with commercially available marine sanitation devices (MSDs), in order to avoid potential health, safety and environmental issues. One potentially effective MSD solution based on proven electrolytic technology is the Omnipure Series 55 system from Severn Trent De Nora which, the company claims, is the only MSD system that oxidizes sewage in an electrochemical cell as well as generating sodium hypochlorite
for the disinfection of
waste streams. Omnipure oxidizes pathogens in the raw sewage waste stream using a proprietary cell design. As a result, the need for large collection/holding tank volumes is eliminated. There is no biological activity required within the treatment process and there is no sensitive micro-organism colony to maintain. These units are not negatively
affected by crew size or discontinuance of use. Severn Trent De Nora has recently incorporated ‘CentraSep’ vertical self- discharging
(VSD) centrifuge technology
from Advanced Separation Technologies (AST) into its solids handling equipment package. The CentraSep unit incorporates a high-quality, structurally sound, mechanical centrifuge design and has been manufactured specifically for the offshore environment. The company
pumping solutions,” he explained, noting that he foresees a need for a system which uses PG-MACS pumps to discharge from the tanks on board a PSV to a ‘relay-pump-station’ ashore, which would efficiently lift the drill cuttings long distances to depots or to processing plants. “We are also looking at the possibility of having the Putzmeister remote-operated booms/ arms fitted to rigs, and possibly ships, to provide hose connections without the need for expensive automated hose-handling-systems of the type that some companies are promoting.” Mr Norum said that there are what he called “interesting tenders” which might trigger another round of demand for PG-MACS. “We are well prepared for that,” he said, noting that another product from the company, PG-MAPS,
could also find an application in the drill cuttings market in the near future. PG-MAPS was developed to handle drill subsea,
cuttings extracting them from the
drilling riser and pumping them to the surface – rather than them being lifted in the riser – to allow faster adjustment of drilling pressure, and thereby speed. “These processes are already known by companies such as AGR and others, but deepwater applications demand higher pressures than existing pumps can provide, opening the way for PG-MAPS as the next generation of DC subsea pumps,” he claimed. As readers of OSJ may also recall, PG-MAPS won an innovation award for new technology at OTC in 2011. OSJ
says a key operational benefit of incorporating the centrifuge technology into Omnipure is that solids are handled automatically, minimising maintenance. The dewatered solids produced by the Omnipure with the CentraSep VSD technology have been tested by an independent third party and characterised as a ‘Class B’ sludge. “This is a significant difference between the Omnipure system and most other MSDs because these dewatered solids can be land-filled or disposed of by conventional waste management methods without fear of environmental impact, penalties or a risk to life and health,” the company concluded.
www.osjonline.com
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