R & D Study Items

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Offshore Disposal Solutions - Detailed Description Research Area Offshore Disposal Solutions Reference 7.2 Title Study into the Impact of Offshore Disposal of Recovered Pile Contents Objectives To determine the practicalities of dealing offshore with the recovered cuttings and explore the potential for re-using the raw materials. Background As part of the current controls employed to restrict the discharge of oily cuttings, increasing tonnages are shipped to shore for disposal. The landfill sites which can accept this material are reducing. The technologies available to process the material are few in number. A study is therefore required to assess the impact of offshore treatment and disposal options, as well as identifying new treatment technologies. The study should take account of the nature of the material as generated by Removal Solutions identified in Reference 6.1 Existing Information Reinjection of fresh drill cuttings is a proven and well-documented technology. Scope Identify potential cuttings processing technologies; estimate details of processing rate, effect of water and/or salt content, rates of injection vs recovery and storage. Overview of regulatory regime Deliverables Listing and description of existing solutions. Draft and Final reports covering all aspects of scope for peer review. Schedule Requirements This R&D item is dependent on the Physical Characteristics of the Piles (Ref. 1.0), and the Removal Solutions (Ref. 6.0) in the UKOOA Drill cuttings R&D initiative. However, the start date is immediate due to the requirement to categorise existing information. Draft report is required by end October 1999 with final report by end December 1999.