Oil Refinery Wastewater Treatment by Using Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

Abstract

In this work, a new hollow fiber membrane was fabricated for the treatment of industrial wastewater in Al-Daura refinery in Baghdad using the submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) technique with a new membrane-type module. The hollow fiber characterization seems to be within the range of ultrafiltration membranes, and the fabricated hollow fibers have a skinless porous outer surface. The effects of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration (i.e., 500 and 1000 mg/l) and preheating temperatures of the effluent wastewater (i.e., 25, 45, and 55 °C) at different preheating periods (i.e., 15, 30, and 45 min) on the performance of MBR and removal efficiency of COD, BOD, oil content, phenol, and turbidity were investigated. It was found that the removal efficiency of COD, BOD, oil content, phenol, and turbidity were enhanced by increasing of MLSS concentration. This efficiency was significantly enlarged by applying different preheating temperatures and times. For example, at 45 min preheating time, the removal efficiency of COD, BOD, oil content, and phenol at 1000 mg/l, and 55 °C were measured to be 71, 60 and 100 %, respectively. In fact, the obtained results confirmed that the initial wastewater preheating followed by the submerged MBR can be offered a possibility of alternative process for oily wastewater treatment, especially when reuse of oily wastewater is taken into account.