David Mugendi, from the institute of Kenya. Caleb Mireri, from the institute of Kenya and Jacob Kibwage, from the institute of Kenya. wrote a Research article about, Fighting Foliar Blight: Antifungal Power of Cadaghi Gum Plant Extracts. Entitled, Assessment of heavy metals concentration in mud cuttings of reserve pit 7 in Twiga 1 well pad South Lokichar Basin relative to acceptable levels in drinking water. This research paper published by the Journal of Biodiversity and EnvironmentalSciences | JBES. an open access scholarly research journal on Biodiversity. under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.
Abstract
Mud cuttings forms the
largest volume of the waste generated during petroleum oil and gas drilling.
Most often they are stored in reserve pits before final disposal which mostly
is being spread in agricultural farms after incineration or being buried with
shallow soil in reserve pits. Barite (Barium Sulphate) often added as a
weighting agent to drilling muds to counteract pressure in the geological
formations being drilled inhibiting well blow out contain elevated levels of
heavy metals. These heavy metals contaminate the mud cuttings during the
drilling process and if poorly managed these cuttings can leach out and
contaminate underground water ecosystems. X-ray Florence machine was used to
determine the heavy metals concentrations in the mud cuttings. The heavy metals
concentration detected in the reserve pit was in the order of Iron>
Calcium> potassium> lead> Manganese> Copper andd Nickel with their
average values being 70.74ppm, 62.57ppm, 8.14ppm, 4.58ppm, 1.58ppm, o.21ppm and
0.05ppm respectively. The results indicated that heavy metals such as Manganese
(Mn), Iron (Fe), and Lead (Pb) concentration levels in the mud cuttings were
all above World Health Organization (WHO), and United State Environmental
Agency (USEPA), recommended levels for consumption water posing a potential
danger to human and animal health in case of exposure.
Read more : Fighting Foliar Blight: Antifungal Power of Cadaghi Gum Plant Extracts | InformatriveBD
Introduction
Oil exploration
activities results in generations of waste materials that are potential
pollutants to water ecosystems (Namuyondo, 2014). The drilling stage of oil
exploration leads to a lot of waste materials generation. According to (Mbithe,
2016) these waste materials entails the drilling fluids contaminated drill
cuttings, that if poorly managed, may end up polluting the water bodies and
other ecosystems. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of
heavy metals in the mud cuttings sampled from Twiga 1wellpad.The findings would
help in guiding proper management of the cuttings averting possible pollution
to the water ecosystems in the study area.
Mud cuttings forms the
largest volume of the waste material generated from exploration drilling.
According to Neff et al. (2000), mud cuttings comprise of minor rock debris formed
when the drilling bit cuts into the rock and extends the hole. These small rock
materials are generally uneven with flake structure and do vary in texture,
size, and shape depending on the nature of the drill bit and the parent rock
material (Balgobin, 2012).The formed cuttings are pumped out of the well by the
drilling mud running inside the drill string down the drill pipe(Vaughan 2012).
Devold (2013) explains that the drilling mud exists via the perforations in the
drilling bit and suspends the mud cuttings and is carried to the surface
through the annulus and eventually do sediment by gravity in the reserve pit.
Mud cuttings account for the most significant percentage of the drilling waste
materials, and therefore proper management strategies are very crucial for
sustainable environmental management (Onwukwe & Nwakaudu, 2012). Mud
cuttings gets contaminated by the drilling muds during exploration drillings.
The structure of contemporary drilling mud can be quite multifaceted and can
vary extensively, not only from one spatial area to another but also from one
depth to another of a given well (Shadizadeh & Zoveidavian 2010). Mbithe
(2016) observes that, there are three types of drilling muds the water-based,
the oil based and the synthetic based fluids. Behnamanhar (2014) records that
the water-based fluids can be prepared with saline or freshwater and are the
ones used in most cases. They are a bit affordable and mostly used in upper
sections of well drilling. In case of drilling of water sensitive formations,
oil-based fluids form the best choice, also in cases of high temperatures or to
prevent the bit corrosion (Katarina et al., 2006).Synthetic-based fluids do not
have polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, they are less toxic, decompose faster,
and they bio accumulate less as compared to the oil-based muds(Neff et al.,
2000). The fluids performs various functions during the exploration activities,
and key among them is transporting the mud cuttings away from the drill face,
lubricating the drill bit and balancing the hydrostatic pressure (Gbedebo,
2010).
Devold (2013) notes
that drilling muds are composed of four components. These are the liquids which
could be oil or water-based; the reactive solids which are the density and
viscosity part of the system and they are often bentonite clays. The solids,
which are inert in nature act as a weighting agent to sustain pressure in the
well, and Barite (Barium Sulphte) which has elevated levels of heavy metals is
the main agent used. Additives are used to control the physical, chemical and
biological aspects of the drilling muds. They include the lime and caustic soda
to control PH and other conditioning reagents that consist, starches,
emulsifiers, lubricants, organic polymers, surfactants detergents lignite materials
and salts (Mbithe, 2016). Many additives found in the drilling muds are toxic.
Poor disposal of the drilling mud contaminated mud cuttings can lead to water
pollution with heavy metals (Al-haleem Saeed et al., 2013). This is evidenced
by studies done globally that have shown poor reserve pit waste management
contaminates underground water. In Mexico, the New Mexico Environmental Bureau,
since its inauguration in the mid-1980s, has documented more than 6,700 cases
reserve pits causing water and soil contamination in the state with 557 of
those cases resulting into groundwater contamination (Anderson, 2003). This
observation was also made by Balgobin (2012) who noted that heavy metals and
hydrocarbons from poorly managed mud cuttings had contaminated both underground
water and surface water in Niger Delta in Nigeria. The most frequently found
selected heavy metals have customarily been Barium from Barite used as the
density control material and Chromium from chrome-lignosulfonate deflocculates.
According to Zoveidavianpoor et al., (2012), Barite comprises of Barium Sulfate
(BaSO4), and it is generally crashed to tiny size symmetrical particles pre its
use as a weighting agent in the fluid. Due to the contaminations in the
Barites, other metals will also be generally present. Higher levels of Lead,
Copper, Nickel and Zinc drill waste have been found relative to the commonly
occurring metals. Barite has a high level of impurities,considered as the
primary source of the mentioned heavy metals contamination in the drilling mud.
Another significant
component of the heavy metal pollutants is the Chromium, which is a component
of mud additives, principally Chrome-based deflocculates. The hexavalent form
of Chromium used as a gel thinner, a stabiliser for high temperature, a biocide
and a corrosion inhibitor is quite toxic (Mbithe, 2016). Lower concentrations
of Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, Zinc have been detected in drilling muds (Rourke
& Connolly, 2003). According to Conant & Fadem (2012) heavy metals do
not stay confined within the waste material generated from the drilling
activities but in most cases leach out into the underground water and the soil.
The significant distress over their occurrence in an environment arises because
they cannot be broken down to non– hazardous forms and so their pollution in
any given biome remains a potential permanent threat (Adesodun, 2007). Bassey
et al. (2013) indicated that the most hazardous heavy metals to both animals
and humans health are Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Copper, Zinc, and
Chromium.The Government of Kenya has ventured into commercial oil exploration
for the very first time in history, little research has been done on drill
cuttings generation, their management and their potency in water and other
ecosystems pollution in the oil fields. Lack of actual studies in Kenya comes
amidst many documented negative effects caused by waste materials generated from
oil exploration as observed by Plänitz & Kuzu (2015), Ajugwo (2013), Agwu
et al. (2016) and Kadafa & Ayub (2012). Management of environment in the
oil fields varies from one country to another depending on the surrounding
ecosystems. Understanding specific concentration of heavy metals in mudcuttings
from Twiga 1 wellpad in Lokichar basin in Kenya is critical for it will enhance
their sustainable management.This information is not available due to the
limited number of researches that have been done in the area before. The
identified research gaps justifies the importance of this study
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