Abstract
During the drilling process in oil and gas fields, rock cuttings and other solid impurities are returned to the wellhead along with oil-based drilling fluids, forming oil-based drill cuttings. Organic pollutants in oil-based drill cuttings can be removed through pyrolysis. Although there has been some research on the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings, there is little analysis of the impact of rock-solid impurities in oil-based drill cuttings on the pyrolysis of organic components. Therefore, in this study, thermogravimetry coupled with infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the pyrolysis characteristics of oil-based drill cuttings, exploring the major volatile components at different pyrolysis temperatures. Meanwhile, the oil and solids in oil-based drilling cuttings were separated by Soxhlet extraction, and the influence of solids on pyrolysis characteristics was studied. The results showed that the average pyrolysis activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the main pyrolysis stage of oil-based drill cuttings obtained by the FWO method were 50.6 KJ/mol and 3.951×104 s−1, respectively, while those of the separated residual oil were 84.7 KJ/mol and 2.905×109 s−1, respectively. This indicates that solids in oil-based drilling cuttings is increasing the mass loss rate during pyrolysis. The difference in pyrolysis kinetics between oil-based drilling cuttings and residual oil indicates that the solid in oil-based rock cuttings provides a surface for the reaction, which provides a reaction site for the decomposition of hydrocarbons to produce lighter volatile hydrocarbons. Additionally, the results of infrared spectroscopy indicated that the volatile products of the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings include CH4, CO, CO2, H2O, aldehydes, organic acids, etc. CH4 is the main product of the first weight loss stage, mainly released between 150°C and 200°C. With the increase in temperature, the concentrations of H2O, CO2, aldehydes, and organic acids gradually increased. At 600°C, the maximum concentration of CO2 release occurred, and the release of CO2 was the main reason for the third-stage weight loss in the pyrolysis of oil-based drilling cuttings
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