Oily water treatment using particles of crushed dates seeds as a deep bed filtration material

Abstract

There is a common consensus among the petroleum industry companies that the associated produced oily water from oil and gas wells creates a formidable challenge due to its hazardous contents to humans, water, air, and soil. The need to treat the produced oily water is an inevitable requirement that proceeds with the development plans.This article reviews the treatment methods in literature, emphasizing deep bed filtration. It also includes an experimental investigation of the suitability and efficiency of using crushed date seeds to treat the associated produced oily water with oil production. Moreover, a discussion is included on the challenges affecting the optimal performance of the treatment methods and recommendations for the future development of this technology.The results showed that the surface of crushed date seed is highly oil-wet. Moreover, the crushed date seeds as a filtration material resulted in almost 95% oil removal efficiency, indicating that it is compatible with the existing materials used in the industry. It is worthwhile noting that date seeds are abundantly available, especially in the Arab world, cheap, and can be recycled as deep bed filtration media.