| This thesis presents an evaluation of drilling cuttings management technologies. A deterministic multicriteria decision-making approach was applied to help assess eight drilling cuttings management alternatives based on twenty five criteria. The eight evaluated technologies included a vertical centrifuge, horizontal centrifuge, thermal desorption, incineration, grinding, stabilization/sodification, bioreactor, and re-injection. The criteria included one threshold criterion of conformity with regulations and four categories of decision-making criteria: technical feasibility, rig compatibility, environmental impacts, and costs. The alternatives evaluated include existing technologies that are currently used offshore and those used onshore but with potential for offshore applications. The criteria were assigned weights corresponding to their importance. The total weights for each of the major aspects, technical, environmental, and cost, were approximately equal. The eight options were scored under each corresponding criterion according to the technologies' information obtained from various sources such as journal papers, personal communication with industry personnel, and questionnaires. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
