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Drilling mud management:
Transforming waste into new resources

Thermal desorption porcess

At Repsol, we apply circular economy criteria to all of our operations and assets wherever we operate. One of the techniques we use is thermal desorption to treat drilling mud generated during the exploration phase.

This technique, which is applied at our Caipipendi field in Bolivia, enables us to obtain from waste, such as drilling mud, two new resources: fuel and water, which are fed back in separately and with different purposes into the processes.

What does this technique consist of?

Thermal desorption is a process in which drilling cuttings are heated (with initial concentrations of hydrocarbons between 5-50%) until reaching temperatures between 95 and 500°C, allowing evaporation and condensation of water and hydrocarbon. This enables us to obtain a dry solid material (ash) with a lower hydrocarbon content.

Circular benefits of this initiative

The advantages of using the thermal desorption technique are:

Reusing water and fuel

Consume less virgin raw materials by reusing the water and fuel extracted from waste treatment.

Creating less waste

Reducing the amount of final waste therefore reduces the environmental footprint.

Avoiding transportation

Manage our waste at our own facilities without having to transport it, thus avoiding the environmental impact associated with transportation.

Drilling mud management in figures

21,500

tonnes

of waste treated since 2016 by thermal desorption.

2,360

m³

of recovered diesel that has been reused in our operations.

Classification by key lines and value chain

Our circular economy projects are aligned with the key lines of our strategy and are present throughout our entire value chain, from obtaining raw materials to commercializing products and services.

Learn about our strategy

Find out more about our circular economy projects

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