Ultrasonic oil recovery and salt removal from refinery tank bottom sludge

Abstract

The oil recovery and salt removal effects of ultrasonic irradiation on oil refinery tank bottom sludge were investigated, together with those of direct heating. Ultrasonic power, treatment duration, sludge-to-water ratio, and initial sludge-water slurry temperature were examined for their impacts on sludge treatment. It was found that the increased initial slurry temperature could enhance the ultrasonic irradiation performance, especially at lower ultrasonic power level (i.e., 21 W), but the application of higher-power ultrasound could rapidly increase the bulk temperature of slurry. Ultrasonic irradiation had a better oil recovery and salt removal performance than direct heating treatment. More than 60% of PHCs in the sludge was recovered at an ultrasonic power of 75 W, a treatment duration of 6 min, an initial slurry temperature of 25°C, and a sludge-to-water ratio of 1:4, while salt content in the recovered oil was reduced to <5 mg L−1, thereby satisfying the salt requirement in refinery feedstock oil. In general, ultrasonic irradiation could be an effective method in terms of oil recovery and salt removal from refinery oily sludge, but the separated wastewater still contains relatively high concentrations of PHCs and salt which requires proper treatment.