Abstract
Environmentally-friendly solid waste management can present a challenge at small, often temporary, remote sites due to the high cost of waste hauling. A transportable solid waste gasification system was evaluated over a five-month period as a potential solution for waste management at remote drilling and workover sites. The demonstration was conducted at a workover camp in Saudi Arabia in late 2012 and early 2013. The system evaluated was an automated, modular unit capable of thermally gasifying 20-40 kg batches of organic solid waste per hour at temperatures exceeding 600 °C. Ordinary camp garbage and kitchen wastes were treated. The system was designed to recycle and burn the syngas generated to sustain the operation. Gaseous emissions are rapidly quenched below 200°C to avoid the formation of dioxins and furans. Following gasification, a small volume of residual solids remain as non-toxic bio-char. This bio-char can potentially be used as a soil additive. Inorganic waste is sterilized, but otherwise unaffected by the gasification process. Preliminary results indicate that a waste volume reduction of more than 95% of the waste processed was achieved. This system is expected to be especially applicable to remote operations or on-board off-shore rigs and marine vessels where costs to transport waste are high.
