Disposal of drilling waste in salt mines in China

Tianfu Xue; Chunhe Yang; Yinping Li; Xilin Shi; Hongling Ma; Xinxing Wei; Zhengyou Liu; Jingen Deng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168746

Disposal of drilling waste in salt mines in China

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Feb 20:912:168746. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168746. Epub 2023 Nov 24.

Authors

Tianfu Xue¹, Chunhe Yang², Yinping Li³, Xilin Shi⁴, Hongling Ma¹, Xinxing Wei¹, Zhengyou Liu⁵, Jingen Deng⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Jiangsu Suyan Jingshen Co., Ltd, Huai'an, Jiangsu 223200, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Hubei Key Laboratory of Geo-Environmental Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: xlshi@whrsm.ac.cn.
⁵ Jiangsu Suyan Jingshen Co., Ltd, Huai'an, Jiangsu 223200, China.
⁶ College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Bejing 102249, China.

PMID: 38008329
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168746

Abstract

A lot of drilling wastes are produced during oil/gas exploration and exploitation in China. Many countries have built and successfully run projects to dispose of wastes in salt mines, which fully demonstrates the feasibility and superiority of this technology. The application prospects of using salt mines to dispose of drilling wastes is comprehensively evaluated from many aspects. It is concluded that this technology has broad application prospects in China. The scientific and technical problems that need to be solved in order to successfully use this technology are systematically summarized, and some practical suggestions are put forward to improve relevant laws and policies. Considering the geological conditions of salt mines and the requirements of laws and regulations in China, a set of perfect and more advanced Chinese schemes has been proposed.

Keywords: Drilling wastes disposal; Environmental protection; Hazardous waste management; Salt cavern.