Offshore Waters Research Articles

Near-island enhancement in mesopelagic micronekton assemblages off Hawaiʻi

The west coast of Hawaiʻi Island hosts elevated primary production compared to offshore waters and an abundance of large pelagic animals for reasons that are not entirely understood. Here we show that the nearshore environment off the west coast of Hawaiʻi exhibits an increased biomass and abundance of mesopelagic micronekton. Acoustic surveys from this study and prior work show a higher nautical area scattering coefficient (as a proxy for biomass) in a deep non-migratory layer in nearshore sites compared to offshore sites that is persistent over five years. Cobb trawl samples taken at the depths of the deep scattering layer (∼450 to ∼550 m) in 2016 and 2017 showed 1.3 to 2.2 times higher biomass and 2.7 times higher abundance nearshore (∼4 km from shore) compared to offshore (∼24 km from shore). Fishes dominated the trawl catches and a large fraction of the nearshore enhancements were due to Sternoptychidae and Serrivomeridae across both years. In contrast, Melamphaeidae consistently were more abundant and had greater biomass offshore. This deep scattering assemblage contrasts with the mesopelagic boundary layer assemblage by being nonmigratory and taxonomically different in composition. These nearshore mesopelagic enhancements could occur as the result of increased nearshore food supplies deriving from Island Mass Effect enhanced primary production or from advection and concentration in a complex flow environment in the lee of the island. Regardless of mechanism, this temporally persistent, high biomass, largely nonmigratory layer of mesopelagic micronekton is different from the better known migratory mesopelagic boundary layer assemblage and may provide food to deeper diving marine mammals and pelagic fishes possibly explaining the aggregation of large pelagic animals in this region.

Sea Clutter Feature Prediction and Parameters Inversion Using Deep Learning Model

The characteristics of sea clutter in real marine environments in different sea areas play a vital role in military industry such as radar detection, remote sensing, SAR imaging, and situational awareness. In this paper, a deep neural network sea clutter model is proposed based on the sea clutter big data under the real marine environment to study the characteristics of sea clutter and parameter inversion. Based on the ERA-Interim reanalysis (2015-2017), a database of marine environmental elements in China's offshore waters was established, and a spatiotemporal prediction model for marine environmental elements was proposed to improve missing values. Considering the scattering mechanism of sea surface at different scales comprehensively, a large database of sea clutter time series of multi-scale real surface is established and comparison with the experimental data. Aiming at the coastal waters of China, the LSTM model and deep neural network (DNN) are used to establish the correlation model between marine environmental elements and sea clutter characteristics, and the prediction and parameter inversion of sea clutter characteristics based on sea clutter big data are studied. The results shown that the coefficients of determination of the predicted fitted curves for the HH and VV polarization amplitudes reach 0.9249 and 0.8872, respectively. The inversion of wave heights in different sea areas is the lowest in the South China Sea (accuracy rate of 78%) and the highest in the East China Sea (accuracy rate is 90%). The results of this paper can help improve the ability of sea surface remote sensing and sea clutter suppression.

The planktonic food web in the Gulf of Naples based on the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios

AbstractPlankton play a key role in marine food webs by producing and transferring organic matter and energy to higher trophic levels. To define the trophic structure and interactions within the planktonic communities in the Gulf of Naples, we determined carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in particulate organic matter (POM, <20 μm), phytoplankton (20–200 μm), and bulk (unsorted) and sorted mesozooplankton (200–2000 μm) on a weekly basis in 2019. The stable isotope values of POM and, to a lesser extent, phytoplankton reflected the short‐term (weekly) alternation between offshore and coastal waters within seasonal variability. Although the isotopic signatures of coastal and offshore sources were still detectable in bulk mesozooplankton, δ13C and δ15N of single groups remained almost unchanged throughout the year. The trophic niches of mesozooplankton groups defined using the Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R software showed a high degree of overlap among them, which was corroborated by the tendency of most groups toward omnivory, beyond their known feeding habits, as indicated by MixSIAR models. Collectively, our results highlight that the complex network of interactions within the planktonic community in the Gulf of Naples can buffer natural variability due to the specific hydrographic features of the system. This characteristic makes the trophic structure of this community an ideal model for monitoring the response of planktonic food webs to climate‐ and anthropic‐driven changes.

A System-Theory and Complex Network-Fused Approach to Analyze Vessel–Wind Turbine Allisions in Offshore Wind Farm Waters

Given the national goal of “emission peaking and carbon neutralization”, China has become the largest country in the world for offshore wind farm construction. At the same time, navigational safety problems in offshore wind farm waters have become increasingly frequent. Owing to the complexity of offshore wind farm waters and the small number of accident data samples available for reference, the system theory method is more suitable for selection than the traditional method. Based on causal analysis based on system theory (CAST) and a complex network (CN), in this study, a qualitative and quantitative accident analysis model, CAST-CN, is constructed to analyze a complete case of vessel and wind turbine allision in offshore wind farm waters. The results show that, at the micro level, in addition to the master, crew, shipping company, and typhoon Hato, the maritime safety administration and the wind farm operation management department have a certain impact on the development of the accident discussed in this study. At the macro level, internal and external factors leading to the lack of system safety are identified, and measures and suggestions for system safety improvement are proposed based on analysis. This study can fill the research gap in the systematic analysis of traffic accidents in offshore wind farm waters and provide support for the safety assessment and decision-making of government management departments and research institutes.

Spatial Distribution and Main Controlling Factors of Nitrogen in the Soils and Sediments of a Coastal Lagoon Area (Shameineihai, Hainan)

As the relationship between the spatial distribution characteristics and physicochemical properties of nitrogen in lagoon soil and sediment is still unclear, we obtained and systematically analyzed soil and sediment samples from the surroundings of a lagoon in the Shamei Inland Sea, Qionghai City, Hainan Province. The spatial distribution of nitrogen forms was investigated, and the soil physicochemical properties that predominantly influenced the nitrogen distribution were characterized. The results were as follows: (1) There are differences in nitrogen content in the soil and sediment around the Shamei Inland Sea. The total nitrogen levels in the Shamei Inland Sea were low, and organic nitrogen was dominant. The soil samples showed higher organic nitrogen concentrations than the sediment samples. Thus, the characteristics of dispersion in offshore waters differ from those in lagoons. The average contents of nitrate, ammonium and nitrite in the soil around the lagoon were higher than those in the sediment, and they were especially high in the lagoon mouth area. The nitrate content was greater in the estuary area in the northwest of the lagoon, and the contents of ammonium and nitrite in the estuary area in the south of the lagoon were the highest. (2) The changes in the basic physical and chemical properties of the soils and sediments in the Shamei Inland Sea area have an important coupled effect on the enrichment, preservation and mineralization of nitrogen. Through redundancy analysis (RDA), the explanatory degree of the organic matter content in relation to the nitrogen content was determined to be approximately 17.2%, contributing 80.9% of all nitrogen. The organic matter content, cation exchange capacity and clay content were positively correlated with the nitrogen content, indicating that changes in the basic physical and chemical properties of the soil and sediment had an important impact on nitrogen enrichment, preservation and mineralization processes. The total nitrogen and the organic matter content, cation exchange capacity and clay content of the soil and sediment were positively correlated. The high proportion of nitrate in the soil, the high proportion of ammonium in the sediment, the heavy texture of the sediment, poor soil ventilation and weak nitrification were related.

A Deep Learning Method for Ship Detection and Traffic Monitoring in an Offshore Wind Farm Area

Newly built offshore wind farms (OWFs) create a collision risk between ships and installations. The paper proposes a real-time traffic monitoring method based on machine vision and deep learning technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the traffic monitoring system in the vicinity of offshore wind farms. Specifically, the method employs real automatic identification system (AIS) data to train a machine vision model, which is then used to identify passing ships in OWF waters. Furthermore, the system utilizes stereo vision techniques to track and locate the positions of passing ships. The method was tested in offshore waters in China to validate its reliability. The results prove that the system sensitively detects the dynamic information of the passing ships, such as the distance between ships and OWFs, and ship speed and course. Overall, this study provides a novel approach to enhancing the safety of OWFs, which is increasingly important as the number of such installations continues to grow. By employing advanced machine vision and deep learning techniques, the proposed monitoring system offers an effective means of improving the accuracy and efficiency of ship monitoring in challenging offshore environments.

A review of system topologies, key operation and control technologies for offshore wind power transmission based on HVDC

AbstractOffshore wind farm (OWF) is considered as a perfect zero‐carbon energy source for the future power system. However, the growing offshore distance and water depth of OWF make the OWF HVDC transmission technique a more promising solution than HVAC due to higher cost‐efficiency and reliability. In this paper, the current situation of OWF‐HVDC projects is introduced at first. Then, novel converter topologies with the higher power density and cost‐efficiency are presented, including the hybrid modular multilevel converter (MMC), alternative arm converter (AAC), and diode rectifier (DR). Next, several OWF HVDC transmission system topologies are introduced, including terminal‐hybrid, station‐hybrid and all‐DC delivered system. Furthermore, the key technologies for OWF HVDC operation and control are summarized, including grid‐forming control strategy for offshore wind turbines, stability analysis method, corresponding stability enhancement measures and frequency support control strategies. Additionally, the fault ride‐through and protection strategies for different fault locations have been presented. Finally, the main conclusions and prospects for OWF HVDC are summarized.

Temporal and vertical dynamics of diatoms and dinoflagellates in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

AbstractThe temporal distributions of microphytoplankton were studied monthly over 2 years in the shelf and the offshore waters of the “low nutrients low chlorophyll” (LNLC) southeastern (SE) Mediterranean Sea. The microphytoplankton were comprised mostly of diatoms (0–542 cells L−1, ~4 × 106–44 × 106 cells m−2) of the genera Rhizosolenia, Thalassionema, Chaetoceros, Leptocylindrus and Pseudo-nitzschia, and dinoflagellates (1–89 cells L−1, ~1 × 106–10 × 106 cells m−2) of the genera Tripos (formally known as Ceratium), Ornithocercus, Protoperidinium, Ceratocorys and Dinophysis. During the winter mixing, microphytoplankton abundance was ~2-fold higher than during the stratified summer months, in accordance with the higher inorganic nutrient levels. Diatoms were mostly found in the upper illuminated layers (0–100 m), while dinoflagellate distribution was patchy and spread from surface down to 200 m. We also calculated that diatoms and dinoflagellates contribute negligibly (~4%) to the total vertical carbon flux in the offshore water, suggesting fast recycling of organic matter at the photic layer. Our results provide a baseline to better understand carbon and biogenic silica fluxes at the LNLC SE Mediterranean Sea.

Dissolved Oxygen Prediction Model for the Yangtze River Estuary Basin Using IPSO-LSSVM

Water ecology has always been key to environmental protection, and the combination of human activities and natural factors has caused eutrophication in the Yangtze estuary and adjacent waters. Among them, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is the key indicator to judge the quality of water. Firstly, using principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the number of parameters affecting dissolved oxygen concentration, the least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) prediction model with improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) is proposed to be applied to the dissolved oxygen prediction in Shanghai’s Yangtze River basin through the data-driven modeling approach and the regression prediction capability of the neural network. Eight parameters of water temperature (WT), pH, potassium permanganate (KMnO4), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), conductivity (Cond), and nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) are selected as model inputs in the published public data, and the output is the dissolved oxygen concentration. The optimal combination of model parameters is found according to the IPSO algorithm, which effectively overcomes the parameter selection problem of regular support vector machines (SVM). The mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and correlation coefficients of the evaluation indexes of this model (R2) are 0.1702, 0.2221, 0.0267, and 0.9751, respectively. Compared with other similar data driven models, this model has improved model accuracy and stability in predicting DO concentrations in the estuary, and thus it provides technical support for assessing and monitoring offshore water quality.

A 1300-year microfaunal record from the Beaufort Sea shelf indicates exceptional climate-related environmental changes over the last two centuries

The environments of Arctic Ocean nearshore areas experience high intra- and inter-annual variability, making it difficult to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic warming. However, a sediment record from the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea allowed us to reconstruct the impacts of climate and environmental changes over the last 1300 years along the northern Yukon coast, Canada. The coring site (PG2303; 69.513°N, 138.895°W; water depth 32 m) is located in the Herschel Basin, where high sedimentation rates (0.1–0.5 cm a−1) allowed analyses at sub-centennial to decadal resolutions. Benthic foraminiferal, ostracod, and tintinnid assemblages, as well as the stable isotope composition of the foraminifera Elphidium clavatum and Cassidulina reniforme were used as paleoclimatic and ecological indicators, while the age model was based on the combined radiometric data of 14C, 210Pb and 137Cs. From ca 700 to 1050 CE, our data suggest penetration of offshore shelf-break waters inferred by the dominance of C. reniforme followed by the relatively abundant Triloculina trihedra in the foraminiferal assemblages as both species are associated with stable saline conditions. Afterwards, the occurrence of ostracods Kotoracythere arctoborealis and Normanicythere leioderma suggests influx of Pacific-sourced waters until ca. 1150 CE. From ∼1150–1650 CE, persistent frigid waters, limited sediment supply, and low abundances of microfossils suggest cold conditions with pervasive annual sea-ice cover that may have restricted upwelling of oceanic waters. After ∼1800 CE, the co-occurrence of Tintinnopsis fimbriata and bacterial/complex organic carbon feeder foraminifera (Quinqueloculina stalkeri, Textularia earlandi and Stetsonia horvathi), suggest an increased influence of freshwater rich in particulate organic matter, which may be related to the spreading of the Mackenzie River plume and/or increased coastal permafrost erosion during longer ice-free seasons. Based on these proxy data, the shift at ∼1800 CE marks the onset of regional warming, which further intensified after ∼1955 CE, likely in response to the anthropogenic forcing.

Seasonality of top-down control of bacterioplankton at two central Red Sea sites with different trophic status.

The role of bottom-up (nutrient availability) and top-down (grazers and viruses mortality) controls on tropical bacterioplankton have been rarely investigated simultaneously from a seasonal perspective. We have assessed them through monthly samplings over 2 years in inshore and offshore waters of the central Red Sea differing in trophic status. Flow cytometric analysis allowed us to distinguish five groups of heterotrophic bacteria based on physiological properties (nucleic acid content, membrane integrity and active respiration), three groups of cyanobacteria (two populations of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus), heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNFs) and three groups of viruses based on nucleic acid content. The dynamics of bacterioplankton and their top-down controls varied with season and location, being more pronounced in inshore waters. HNFs abundances showed a strong preference for larger prey inshore (r = -0.62 to -0.59, p = 0.001-0.002). Positive relationships between viruses and heterotrophic bacterioplankton abundances were more marked inshore (r = 0.67, p < 0.001) than offshore (r = 0.44, p = 0.03). The negative correlation between HNFs and viruses abundances (r = -0.47, p = 0.02) in shallow waters indicates a persistent seasonal switch between protistan grazing and viral lysis that maintains the low bacterioplankton stocks in the central Red Sea area.

Iron limitation of kelp growth may prevent ocean afforestation

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and emissions reduction are essential to alleviate climate change. Ocean macroalgal afforestation (OMA) is a CDR method already undergoing field trials where nearshore kelps, on rafts, are purposefully grown offshore at scale. Dissolved iron (dFe) supply often limits oceanic phytoplankton growth, however this potentially rate-limiting factor is being overlooked in OMA discussions. Here, we determine the limiting dFe concentrations for growth and key physiological functions of a representative kelp species, Macrocystis pyrifera, considered as a promising candidate for OMA. dFe additions to oceanic seawater ranging 0.01-20.2 nM Fe′ ‒ Fe′ being the sum of dissolved inorganic Fe(III) species ‒ result in impaired physiological functions and kelp mortality. Kelp growth cannot be sustained at oceanic dFe concentrations, which are 1000-fold lower than required by M. pyrifera. OMA may require additional perturbation of offshore waters via dFe fertilisation.

Commentary: Evaluating stock status of 16 commercial fish species in the coastal and offshore waters of Taiwan using the CMSY and BSM methods

GENERAL COMMENTARY article Front. Mar. Sci., 05 June 2023Sec. Marine Fisheries, Aquaculture and Living Resources Volume 10 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1152982

High-frequency fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) observations to assess water quality drivers at an enclosed beach.

Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) are monitored at beaches to assess water quality and associated health risk from recreational exposure. However, monitoring is generally conducted infrequently (i.e. weekly or less often), potentially leading to inaccurate assessment of water quality at a beach at the time of use. While some work has shown that FIB in marine environments can vary over short (e.g. subhourly) time scales, that work has been mainly focused on 'open' beaches. 'Enclosed' beaches-those that are partially barriered from exchange with offshore water and thus have different residence times and mixing dynamics in the nearshore environment-have been less studied. Here we present results from a high-frequency (once per 30 minutes) FIB sampling event conducted within a Central California, USA, harbor over 48 hours. FIB concentrations at this enclosed site were more variable at high-frequencies than what has been reported at open beach sites. Correlation and regression analyses showed FIB concentrations were most strongly associated with chlorophyll a concentration, turbidity, wind speed, and tide level. Results indicate the importance of measuring FIB concentrations and explanatory environmental parameters at appropriate temporal resolutions when conducting water quality monitoring or source tracking studies. Overall, this work highlights how high-frequency sampling can effectively provide information about water quality dynamics at beaches of interest.

Numerical Simulation Research on Characteristics of Underwater Explosive Bubble Jet in Offshore Water

Underwater explosions have always been a hot topic in the field of ship protection. When explosives explode in offshore waters, the influence of seabed and structural boundaries on shock wave propagation and bubble pulsation will become more complicated. In this paper, a numerical simulation study of the underwater explosion between a deformable seabed and a rigid boundary is carried out. Firstly, the ABAQUS software was used to establish a numerical model by using the CEL method. The seabed was regarded as a heavier fluid, and the density ratio of the seabed and water was used to describe the characteristics of the seabed. The validity of the model was verified by comparison with experiments. Then, a series of numerical simulations were carried out by adjust the position of the explosive, the thickness of water medium layer, and the density of the seabed. The results show that: when the position of the explosive is close to the seabed and the rigid boundary, the bubble pulsation period is longer. The water jet and the pulsating pressure of the bubbles have a strong impact on the structure when the explosive is located near to 1 times the theoretical maximum radius of the bubble. As the depth of the water decreases, it can be observed that the bubbles transform from “ellipsoid” to “nipple-like”, and finally tear into upper and lower halves. When the thickness of water medium layer is 1 times the theoretical maximum radius of the bubble, the incident pressure waveforms of the bubble pulsation and the water jet near the structure are chaotic, which is caused by the “tear” phenomenon of the bubble. As the density of the seabed increases, the depth of the intrusion of the bubbles into the seabed becomes smaller and the shape of the bubbles becomes flatter. The research results of this paper can provide reference for the protection design of ships.

External Dynamic Mechanisms Controlling the Periodic Offshore Blooms in Beibu Gulf

AbstractSince offshore waters are less affected by human activities and nutrient‐rich water masses, existing theories on periodic offshore blooms (POB) consider that the POB is proportional to the intensity of ocean fronts (nutrient supply from enhancing vertical mixing), ignoring external nutrient supply and external forcing (climatic oscillations). This study proposes an external dynamic mechanism of the POB on the basis of field observations and long‐term satellite remote sensing data (1981–2022) in Beibu Gulf, which is influenced by remarkable external forcing. A strong thermal front with an inverted‐V structure occurred in the central gulf every winter due to the strong wind stress. The intensity of the front on the east side is weaker due to the intrusion of the west‐Guangdong coastal current (WGCC). However, nutrient supply variation resulted in the POB's different intensity in different areas of the inverted‐V front. Chlorophyll a concentrations in the eastern (nutrients supplied by WGCC) and northern (nutrients supplied by vertical mixing) were obviously higher than that in the western front (limited nutrient supply) in winter. On an interannual scale, the intensity of POB in La Niña years is remarkably stronger than in El Niño years due to the stronger WGCC supplying more nutrients in La Niña. This study suggests that the intensity and range of POB are not proportional to the frontal intensity in the gulf, but are directly driven by the internal forcing (fronts and nutrient supply from WGCC), which is controlled by the external forcing.

Trophic ecology of Octopus vulgaris paralarvae along the Iberian Canary current eastern boundary upwelling system

Our knowledge of the diet of wild octopus paralarvae, Octopus vulgaris, is restricted to the first 2 weeks of its planktonic phase when they are selective hunters found near the coastline. These small paralarvae, bearing only three suckers per arm, are transported by oceanic currents from the coast towards offshore waters, where they complete the planktonic phase over 2 months. Here, we have investigated the trophic ecology of O. vulgaris paralarvae in two contrasting upwelling sub-regions of the Iberian Canary current (ICC) eastern boundary upwelling system and have evaluated dietary change as paralarvae develop (inferred by counting the number of suckers per arm, ranging from three to 15) along the coastal-oceanic gradient during their planktonic phase. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing, we have characterised the diet of 100 paralarvae collected along the Northwest Iberian Peninsula (n = 65, three to five suckers per arm) and off the west coast of Morocco (n = 35, three to 15 suckers per arm), identifying up to 87 different prey species. The diet of paralarvae varied along the ICC, with crabs (53.4%), siphonophores (12.2%), copepods (12.3%), cnidarians (8.4%) and pteropods (3.7%) accounting for 90% of the variability detected off NW Iberian Peninsula, whereas off W Morocco, crabs (46.2%), copepods (23.1%), cnidarians (12.9%), krill (9.3%) and fishes (4.2%) explained 95.6% of the variability observed using frequency of observance (FOO%) data. Ontogenetic changes in the diet based on groups of paralarvae with similar numbers per arm were evidenced by the decreasing contribution of coastal meroplankton and an increase in oceanic holoplankton, including siphonophores, copepods, pteropods and krill. Trophic niche breadth values ranged from 0.06 to 0.67, with averaged values ranging from 0.23 to 0.33 (generalist = 1 and specialist = 0), suggesting that O. vulgaris paralarvae are selective predators through their ontogenetic transition between coastal and oceanic environments.

Nonlinear dynamic optimization of marine riser system anti-recoil under a flexible multibody framework

Anti-recoil safety of marine risers is critical for deep water offshore drilling. The challenges of riser anti-recoil optimization stem primarily from two factors: (a) nonlinearities of the violent transient response with various system stages and types of design variables and (b) discontinuities of the objective and constraint functions expressed by max–min over the time domain. In this paper, a nonlinear dynamic optimization model and solution method of marine riser system anti-recoil under a flexible multibody framework is proposed. The objective and constraint functions are elaborately designed to protect the system from dynamic buckling and wellhead and riser collision. Corresponding treatments to system state changes and time step sampling are proposed for numerical sensitivity smoothing. In addition, an extra acceleration constraint is imposed to trim and regularize the feasible domain defined by the discontinuous clearance constraint. Following that, the global convergent method of moving asymptotes (GCMMA) is applied. The presented continuous optimization formulation is numerically tested on a real marine riser platform from the X oil field in the South China Sea with a water depth of 1547 m. The numerical results are compared with those computed using a genetic algorithm (GA), surrogate method and interior point method, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated.

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Autumn Fish Assemblages in the Offshore Waters of the Yangtze Estuary

The offshore waters of the Yangtze Estuary are an important fish habitat, and the large gradient of environmental conditions leads to different fish assemblages. We studied the spatial and temporal variations in fish assemblages and their relationships with environmental factors in the offshore waters of the Yangtze Estuary during the autumns of 2012–2016. The fish assemblage consisted of 64 fish species from 39 families, of which 6 species were dominant. There were significant interannual differences in fish abundance, biomass, and species composition, with the highest abundance and biomass in 2013, the lowest abundance in 2016, and the lowest biomass in 2015. Redundancy analysis revealed that total suspended particles and dissolved oxygen drove interannual variation in fish abundance, biomass, and species composition, and depth drove spatial variation in the fish assemblage. According to the depth, the fish were classified as shallow assemblage and deep assemblage. Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of fish assemblage in the offshore waters of the Yangtze Estuary is beneficial to the conservation of fish and the sustainable use of fishery resources in the offshore waters of the Yangtze Estuary.

Structure design and industrial experiment of compact flotation unit for refinery wastewater treatment

The compact flotation unit (CFU) has been widely used in offshore oilfield-produced water treatment with the characteristics of compact structure and high oil removal efficiency. However, there is no published literature talking about CFU’s application in refinery wastewater treatment. In this paper, an innovative designed two-stage series BIPTCFU process diagram for refinery wastewater treatment was proposed. The structural design of the core BIPTCFU with a capacity of 20 m3/h was also carried out. After that, the manufactured industrial prototype of BIPTCFU-III-20 was tested in a SINOPEC petrochemical wastewater treatment plant. The single-factor operation test results show that with the increase of gas-liquid volume ratio, the oil removal efficiency of the BIPTCFU-III-20 increases first and then stabilizes. The reason can be ascribed to the microbubble number density which contributes to the oil removal efficiency. With the increase of inlet water flow rate, the oil removal efficiency first increases and then decreases. The reason is that as the inlet flow rate increases and approaches the rated treatment capacity, a stable swirling flow field is gradually formed in the vessel which benefits to the oil removal performance. While when the inlet water flow rate exceeds the rated capacity, the calculated hydraulic retention time was too short to complete the air flotation process. Under the optimal operation parameters, the oil removal performance of the BIPTCFU-III-20 on refinery wastewater was remarkable, and the average oil removal efficiency was 81.65 % when the inlet oil content was higher (1307 mg/L ∼ 4486 mg/L). While, when the inlet oil content is lower (150 mg/L ∼ 393 mg/L), the average oil removal efficiency was 77.75 %. The effect of low inlet oil content on the oil removal rate is more significant than that of high oil content. Based on the above basic research results, an industrial BIPTCFU with a rated capacity of 100 m3/h was constructed. The remarkable oil removal performance of the refinery wastewater was further verified.