Sludge Disposal

Product Description

Three to five percent of all crude oil produced is ultimately unusable. When transported in ships or stored in tanks, sludge settles to the bottom of the vessels and containers. It cannot be drained from the tanks and must be removed and hauled away at considerable expense. That expense is, in part, the cost of hiring crews to remove the sludge from the tanks. A greater part of the expense is the disposal fee associated with the environmentally-unfriendly material.

Large volumes of sludge are also formed at refineries and oil extraction sites. Accidents in the transportation of oil and petroleum products also add to environmental contamination. The problem is common to all oil-producing countries. The situation with sludge accumulation in Russia presents an opportunity for American oil reclamation companies. Russia’s vast territories and its seemingly inexhaustible natural resources have produced significant environmental problems for the country. In a less-than-wise regime of environmental protection and resources conservation, large open spaces and easily accessible raw materials made the situation perverse on a national scale.