Ecotoxicological assessment of soil-like mixtures made of drill cuttings
Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology
ISSN: 1726-0531
Article publication date: 11 January 2021
Issue publication date: 15 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the possibilities to use drill cuttings in soil formation processes on sandy substrates. The ecological and toxicological assessment of drill cuttings of various genesis and mixtures based on them is applied for the purpose.
Design/methodology/approach
Acute toxicity of mixtures consisting of various drill cuttings, sand and peat was estimated using soft wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum) using the eluate method. Subacute toxicity experiments were carried out using creeping trefoil (white clover) seeds (Trifolium repens), rye seeds (Secale cereale), and garden radish seeds (Raphanus sativus L.). Drill cuttings of the West Siberian oil-and-gas basin generated as a result of drilling on clay-polymer drilling fluids can be used as a component of soil-like mixtures in the reclamation of sand fills. Patterns of the selective stimulation of seed growth by components of drilling fluids (xanthate and bentonite) were revealed.
Findings
It was found that the addition of bentonite and xanthan (0.05% by weight of the cuttings each) reduces the suppression of seed growth occasioned salt content by 21.1% and 24.0%, respectively.
Originality/value
Soil degradation and desertification is a serious and widespread problem. The restoration of the fertile layer can be launched by application of the artificial soil-like mixtures based on drill cuttings of a certain origin to the disturbed lands.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The team of authors expresses acknowledgment and gratitude to a senior researcher of the Chemistry Institute of Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod Mikhail E. Bezrukov for organizational and methodological assistance in carrying out the research.
Declaration of Interest: The authors declare that they do not have any known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could affect the work presented in this document.
Citation
Ostakh, O., Uzyakova, E., Grechishcheva, N. and Kusheeva, V. (2021), "Ecotoxicological assessment of soil-like mixtures made of drill cuttings", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 1433-1450. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-07-2020-0310
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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