Mud was making a mess of things for this Arkansas aggregate producer, adding $1 million in disposal costs. Now, the client’s wet mud issues are history and ROI tops $1.2 million a year.

Customer:
A large Arkansas aggregate producer 30,000tpd.

Problem:
Producer was experiencing extreme difficulties in removing fine solids from their wash water stream. Plus, the mud formed was too wet to truck from the site, requiring additional manpower and equipment to dry the solids.

Production prior to Reef intervention:
The chemical program consisted of a cationic coagulant injected into 1,250 gpm’s of 10% solids (-325mesh), then treated with an anionic emulsion polymer before entering a drag chain clarifier for water/mud separation. The total cost of the chemical program and equipment to dispose of the solids exceeded $1 million a year.

Recommendations and procedures:
Chemical & Consulting Solutions, a subsidiary of Reef Services, was asked to formulate a new treatment that would reduce/eliminate the wet mud issues. The new program consisted of injecting a low charge anionic emulsion polymer into the flowline before a 1,500 gallon capacity cone bottom tank. Clear water was removed off the top of the tank for recycle. The mud in the cone section was treated with a patented cationic emulsion as it exited that allowed the mud to stack and continue to dewater. The consistency of the newly treated solids was so strong and uniform it allowed for inclusion in an existing product stream.

Summary:
The “new” product eliminated the need to remove mud from the site, while providing additional a return on investment of more than $1.2 million a year.