MicroCleanMud

There are approximately 240 offshore drilling rigs in operation globally. Currently around 70 oil and gas exploration/production platforms are in the North Sea. Drilling processes are lubricated by a viscous oil/water emulsion known as drilling mud. Our project aims to help cleaning up drilling waste and oil-contaminated soil at an attractive cost while meeting the required residual oil content of less than 0.1%. To achieve this, the consortium developed an innovative, efficient and compact 2-stage microwave-assisted treatment unit to fit in a 40 feet container.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 232052.