Bentonite Slurry

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Bentonite Slurry

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Bentonite is an absorbent clay often used by utility contractors in the horizontal drilling and geotechnical engineering industry. Small quantities of bentonite suspended in water form a viscous, shear thinning material often referred to as bentonite slurry. At high enough concentrations bentonite suspensions begin to take on the characteristics of a gel. For these reasons it is a common component of drilling mud used to curtail drilling fluid invasion by its propensity for aiding in the formation of mud cake.

Bentonite is also used in the construction of slurry walls. A slurry wall is a type of wall used to build tunnels and to lay foundations in areas where soft earth is too close to open water or areas with high ground water tables. For instance, slurry wall construction was used to construct the "bathtub" that surrounded most of the World Trade Center site.

Sites using bentonite, for either horizontal drilling or slurry wall construction, recycle the displaced product. When the bentonite slurry becomes “spent” or no longer has beneficial properties (or at project completion) there is a need for disposal.

Disposal of Spent Bentonite
Spent bentonite product is typically handled in the following ways. Construction sites will often deploy the use of bulk liquid storage tanks or frac tanks to contain and temporarily store the bentonite slurry prior to disposal. Vacuum trucks may be used to remove the product from the bulk liquid storage tanks and transport it to an approved disposal facility. Any residual solids or drill cuttings that can not be pumped may be placed in roll-off containers which are then transported for disposal.

Russell Reid is well versed in the proper handling of spent bentonite. We can supply bulk liquid storage tanks for on site storage as well as vacuum truck services or roll off containers for transportation and proper manifested disposal of the waste at an approved disposal facility. Recently, Russell Reid was arduously tasked with providing transportation and disposal for approximately 300,000 plus gallons of bentonite slurry from the World Trade Centers site.

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