Remediation of Waste Drilling Mud Using Surfactantenhanced Washing: Influencing Factors and Petroleum Hydrocarbon Removal

In this paper, a non-ionic surfactant, Triton 100 (TX-100), was employed for the remediation of waste drilling mud and the effects of various parameters on the petroleum hydrocarbon removal efficiencies were determined. Contact time, surfactant concentration, and temperature were considered as the three significant factors affecting the removal efficiencies of different fractions of petroleum hydrocarbons. The results suggested that a contact time of 30 minutes is quite sufficient for the remediation of waste drilling mud while the effect of temperature was negligible. Increasing the surfactant concentration may also increase the efficiency of the drilling mud remediation to a certain point. It was concluded that in optimized conditions, the petroleum hydrocarbon removal efficiencies of up to 70% can be achieved using the Triton 100.