Patent ID: 7807056

Claim:
A method for bioremediating hydrocarbon contaminated solids, comprising: introducing a slurry comprising one or more drilling fluids and one or more hydrocarbon contaminated solids to a settling system, the settling system comprising: one or more housings having a receiving compartment at a first end thereof and a collecting compartment at a second end thereof; a barrier disposed in the receiving compartment; at least one wall transversely disposed in the housing between the receiving and collecting compartments, the wall having at least one aperture formed therethrough and at least one flow-restricting baffle disposed thereon, wherein the one or more baffles extend perpendicularly from the wall; flowing the slurry across the barrier; separating the hydrocarbon contaminated solids in the slurry from the drilling fluid by causing the slurry to reverse direction and flow around the barrier; and contacting the separated hydrocarbon contaminated solids with one or more microorganism populations disposed between the receiving compartment and the collecting department.