Removing oil waste for healthy soil

All across the world, oil extraction leaves sludge and contaminated soil. Kuwait is dotted with 2 400 “lakes” of oil waste. Russia creates more than three million metrics tons of sludge annually. And by the Caspian Sea, over 30 000 hectares of land are polluted.

This is wasteful for oil companies and harmful for the environment.

To make remediation more efficient, Ennox Technology has built a mobile unit for extracting close to 100 per cent of hydrocarbons from solids.

The unit separates oil from soil without the use of heat or harmful chemicals. It can treat up to 10 metric tons of oil-contaminated soil per hour. The process does not emit any CO₂ and consumes minimal amounts of water.

The extracted oil holds high enough quality to be introduced into the existing value chain.

The Ennox unit is shipped in standard 20-40-foot containers, meaning it can be installed at any well site. Using standardised components, the unit is easy to build, move and scale up. It runs on electric power and consumes less than 10 kWh per metric ton of processed soil.

In addition to leaving soil virtually oil-free, the Ennox unit also leaves oil with less than 1 per cent of solid waste and water. This means soil can remain on extraction sites, while oil can be transported to market.

Treating solid waste on site eliminates the need to have contaminated material transported to a treatment plant.

Onshore oil waste management is particularly in demand in North America, Russia and the Middle East, due to the large number of onshore wells.

Offshore exploration, meanwhile, also generates waste that must be transported for processing. Ennox’s technology is well suited for offshore installations, eliminating the need for expensive onshore transport logistics.

Ennox’s technology is a result of years of research and development by German and Norwegian organisations.