Refinery Waste Streams Research Articles

Water quality guideline values for aluminium, gallium and molybdenum in marine environments

Revised water quality guideline values (WQGVs) are presented for the metals aluminium (Al), gallium (Ga) and molybdenum (Mo) in receiving marine environments. These elements are commonly found in elevated concentrations in alumina refinery waste streams, yet current WQGVs fail to accurately assess the environmental risk. Here, chronic biological effects data we have generated over the course of several years were combined with toxicity data from the open literature to construct species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) which enabled the computation of revised WQGVs for Al, Ga and Mo in marine environments. These procedures are in accordance with internationally recommended derivation procedures, and newly computed WQGVs may be incorporated in regulatory frameworks aimed at sustainable exploitation of environmental resources and ongoing protection of the marine estate. Where the available datasets allowed such distinction, separate SSDs were constructed for temperate and tropical environments and zone-specific WQGVs derived. Extrapolated from the SSDs, WQGVs of 56μg Al L-1, 800μgGaL-1 and 3.88mg Mo L-1 (in the 0.45-μm filtered fraction) for 95% species protection were recommended for implementation in both temperate and tropical receiving environments. Currently, there is insufficient validation to separate the tropical from the temperate data and in most cases, application of the generic WQGVs is recommended.

Anaerobic digestion for solids reduction and detoxification of refinery waste streams

Lab scale studies were conducted to test the anaerobic digestibility of two waste streams acquired from a petrochemical refinery. The waste streams comprised float from the dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit and waste activated sludge (WAS) from the biological treatment unit. Three semi continuous anaerobic digesters (AD) examined mono and co-digestion of the substrates. Mono-digestion of WAS yielded the highest reductions in organics whereas substrates with portions of DAF float showed inhibition. Prior to AD, batch bioassays were used as a preliminary tool to determine the toxicity profiles and the biodegradability of the samples. Pretreatment of the feeds by ozonation exhibited improvement in the digestion of DAF float with a higher digester hydraulic retention time (HRT), indicated by increased solids removal. Ozonation also resulted in enhanced removal of toxic organic compounds found in DAF float.

Selection Separation Method for Hydrogen and Light Hydrocarbons Gases from Waste-Gas Streams of a Petroleum Refinery

The four main processes for hydrogen upgrading in refineries include pressure swing adsorption, selective permeation using polymer membranes, cryogenic separation, and dephlegmation. Each of these processes is based on a different separation principle and, consequently, the process characteristics differ significantly. Selection of an appropriate hydrogen and light gas separation process depends not only on economics but on other project considerations such as process flexibility, reliability, and ease of future expansion. A review of the separation process characteristics and equipment is provided in this article, followed by discussions of other project considerations. General and application-specific selection guidelines are then presented, along with process integrations that take advantage of the complementary characteristics of the four processes. Due to the worldwide depletion of petroleum reservoirs and the growing use of hydrotreating in petroleum refineries, much attention has been given to light hydrocarbons and hydrogen recovery from refinery waste streams.

A review of air separation technologies and their integration with energy conversion processes

Cryogenic air separation technology has been successfully employed for many years to supply oxygen for the gasification of a wide range of hydrocarbon feedstocks to generate synthesis gas for the production of fuels, chemicals and other valuable products. Examples include the conversion of liquid and solid refinery waste streams into hydrogen for use within the refinery along with the coproduction of electricity, and the growing interest in gas-to-liquids (GTL) processes which convert natural gas into synthetic crude oil, waxes and fuels. Recently, increased attention has been focused on methods of integrating the oxygen production process with the downstream hydrocarbon processing units to reduce facility cost or increase efficiency. A review of traditional and developing processes to generate oxygen is presented, along with integration schemes to improve the economics of these facilities.

4839022 Method and apparatus for treating oil-water-solids sludges and refinery waste streams : James L Skinner assigned to Atlantic Richfield Company

4839022 Method and apparatus for treating oil-water-solids sludges and refinery waste streams : James L Skinner assigned to Atlantic Richfield Company

4839022 Method and apparatus for treating oil-water-solids sludges and refinery waste streams

4839022 Method and apparatus for treating oil-water-solids sludges and refinery waste streams

Fluid Bed Catalytic Oxidation: An Underdeveloped Hazardous Waste Disposal Technology

Fluid bed incinerators have been used to dispose of a wide variety of hazardous wastes including refinery waste streams, surplus explosives, PCB-contaminated transformer oil and oxychlorination process wastes. Both inert and catalytic solids have been employed separately and in mixed beds or sequential reactors. However, in most catalytic processes, the nature of the catalyst and the process operating conditions are proprietary. In this paper, the catalytic oxidation kinetics of three chlorinated hydrocarbons are determined in an externally pumped recycle reactor with a commercially available chromia on alumina catalyst. Conversion of the chlorocarbon species in the reactor effluent are monitored by gas chromatography for temperatures in the range 350 to 550°C. Regression of the measured catalytic oxidation rates yields rate expressions which are first order in the chlorocarbon concentration, between zero and first order in oxygen concentration and exhibit some inhibition by water. Some catalyst poisoning by halogen containing species is observed. However, the poisoning phenomena can be minimized by control of the H/Cl ratio in the mixed waste feed stream.

Thermal method for decontamination of refinery waste streams

Thermal method for decontamination of refinery waste streams

Use of ozone in treating refinery wastes

1. Ozonation has been studied in relation to the three groups of refinery waste streams, i.e., a mixed waste before biochemical treatment, a contaminated storm -drain effluent, and ELOU [desalter] waste after mechanical treatment. These studies showed that the most effective method of ozonation is multistage contact of the reaction gas with the waste streams. The maximum reduction in contamination (based on COD) is 60%. 2. When the refinery waste streams are ozonated in a counterflow column, the COD and BOD decrease in all stages of the contacting, but the original ratio BOD ∶ COD changes hardly at all. 3. Ozonation of refinery waste streams does not enable conversion of the initial contaminants to the ultimate oxidation products (CO2 and water), since stable intermediate oxidation products are formed, these products being incapable of any further spontaneous breakdown. The field of application for ozonation in refineries is limited. 4. The first-order linear differential equation that has been chosen has been tested in a Minsk-22 computer; the results confirm the correctness of our hypothesis on the formation of intermediate products through the interaction of ozone with the initial “contaminant.”