ARTICLE pubs.acs.org/IECR
Effect of Agglomerate Size on Oil Removal during Microwave Treatment of Oil Contaminated Drill Cuttings Igor S. M. Pereira, John P. Robinson,* and Sam W. Kingman Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K. ABSTRACT: This paper presents new observations on the effects of agglomerate size on microwave treatment of drill cuttings. A continuous pilot scale microwave heating system was used at power levels from 17 to 42 kW and material throughputs from 190 to 300 kg/h. It was found that oil is preferentially removed from smaller agglomerates and that feed materials larger than 1 mm required up to 15% more energy to be remediated to the same levels of residual oil as
