The waste diesel from abandoned oil-based drilling fluid through thermo-chemical demulsification and centrifugal separation contains much water, particle impurities, asphaltene and some other organic residues. After regeneration experimental research of waste diesel, the optimized process of flocculation-pickling-caustic washing-white clay adsorption was confirmed, in which the flocculant X-TSN, concentrated sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and activated clay adsorbent were used, with the diesel recovery rate of 80.15%. The main physicochemical properties of regenerated diesel meet the level III of 0# diesel standard (GB 19147-2009). The ingredients of regenerated diesel were fundamentally the same as those of 0# standard diesel, which could be used to prepare oil-based drilling fluid. ©, 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.