Elimination of phenol from refineries effluents using electrocoagulation method

The crude oil industry is a major source of water pollution because of huge volumes of refining effluents discharged into the aquatic environment. This effluent consequently consists of substances that causes harm to the aquatic environment and depletes the aquatic population due to depleted oxygen. This study investigated the application of various treatment procedures and materials to reduce the effects of refining process effluent on water. The current study proposes to employ the electrocoagulation (EC) method in the removal of phenol contamination from refining effluent utilising aluminium electrodes. Continuous flow studies have been carried out in order to remove phenolic chemicals from refinery effluent effects of experimental factors such as electrical current density (ECD), distances between electrodes (DE), and treatment durations (TD) while phenols were eliminated were examined. The results show that the EC method reduced the phenol level in petroleum refinery discharge. The EC unit decreased the phenol level by 57% using aluminium as electrodes. The-optimal removal efficiency was found at 120 TD with an ECD of 6 mA/cm2 and a DE of 20 mm.

Electrochemical remediation of wastewater contaminated by phenol

One of the most significant contributors to water contamination is the petroleum sector. Large volumes of refinery effluent contaminated with numerous sorts of contaminants are discharged into water sources, causing substantial environmental harm. As a result, researchers looked at the use of a variety of treatment techniques to mitigate the impacts of refinery effluent. Utilising hybrid electrodes (iron as cathodes, and aluminium as anodes) electrodes, this investigation intends to use the electrocoagulation method to minimised phenol contaminants from refinery effluent. In addition, the influence of experimental parameters such as electrical current density, electrode spacing, and duration of treatment on the elimination of phenols was investigated in this study. To eliminate the phenols from the effluent, batch flow investigations were employed. According to the findings, the electrocoagulation technique decreased the number of phenols in petroleum effluent. The hybrid electrocoagulation unit was able to decrease the phenol content by around 45%. With a current density of 4 mA/cm2 and electrode separation of 2cm, the highest removal efficiency was reached after 110 minutes of treatment. Other experiment factors, such as the original amount of the phenols, must be examined.

Assessment of Forward Osmosis in PRO Mode during Desalination of a Local Oil Refinery Effluent

In this study, the performance of a forward osmosis system was assessed over a 30-h period during desalination of a local oil refinery effluent using NaCl as the draw solute. The study was conducted with the active layer of the membrane facing the draw solution. Assessment was done based on the water flux, salt rejection (SO42− and CO32−), membrane fouling and fouling reversal after membrane cleaning. Critical to this study was the performance of manual scrubbing of the membrane after each run and the application of chemically enhanced osmotic backwash. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis of the cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane was conducted before and after cleaning to ascertain the degree of fouling and fouling reversal after membrane cleaning. The results showed an average water flux of 3.78 ± 0.13 L/m2 h, reverse solute flux (RSF) of 1.56 ± 0.11 g/m2·h, SO42− rejection of 100%, CO32− rejection of 95.66 ± 0.32% and flux recovery of 95% after membrane cleaning. This study identifies that intermittent manual scrubbing of the membrane plays a major role in overall membrane performance. It also provides a practical basis for further research and decision making in the use of FO and CTA membranes for oil refinery effluent desalination.

Performance Analysis of Various Advanced Oxidation Processes on COD Removal from Raw Petroleum Refinery Effluent

Objectives : This comparative study investigated various methods of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) that were separately conducted for treating raw petroleum refinery effluent regarding chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal.Methods : Fenton, photo-Fenton, TiO2, ZnO, TiO2/Ultra violet (UV), and ZnO/UV were performed individually for measuring the effect of light irradiation, treatment time, pH, catalysts dosage, and light source on the profile of COD values.Results and Discussion : The experimental data of this work showed that the dependency on the light exposure in heterogeneous photo-catalytic reaction using TiO2 and ZnO is higher than that of homogeneous photo-Fenton technique. The optimum operating conditions in heterogeneous system occurred at 100 min of oxidation time, pH 5, and catalyst dosage 1 g/L that resulted in 21.8, 20.68, 60.9, and 55.17% of COD removal for TiO2, ZnO, TiO2/UV, and ZnO/UV, respectively. In contrast, both Fenton and photo-Fenton experienced their highest performance at pH 4 by obtaining 44.2 and 59.77% of COD removal, respectively. Eventually, kinetic study indicated that COD degradation can be well expressed by second-order pattern that reached higher correlation coefficient values by 0.999 and 0.998 for TiO2/UV and TiO2, respectively.Conclusions : Overall, it could be assumed that AOPs are reliable techniques to purify raw and complex raw industrial effluents.

Optimization of Crude Oil Biodegradation of Fungi Isolated from Refinery Effluent Site using Response Surface Methodology

The activities involved in the production and exploration of crude oil has constantly polluted the environment. This study investigated the ability of an indigenous fungus to utilize petroleum hydrocarbon. Response Surface Methodology was used to optimize the effects of pH, microbial concentration (spores/ml), and contact time (days) on the crude oil removal efficiency in refinery effluent. Monocillium sp. was isolated and used for the treatment of refinery effluent due to its predominance in the contaminated soil. Twenty experimental runs were analyzed to determine the effect of pH, microbial concentration and contact time on the oil removal efficiency. From theexperimental results obtained, a maximum oil removal efficiency of 98.42 % was achieved at a pH of 6.5, contact time of 14 days, and a microbial concentration of 3 spores/ml. The results obtained showed the percentage of crude oil removal in the effluent sample increased with an increase in time. Optimization of the experimental result was achieved at a removal efficiency of 98.59 %, a contact time of 13.96 days, a pH of 6.85, and a microbial concentration of 3.01 spores/ml. The findings of this study revealed that Monocillium sp. is a viable hydrocarbon degrader, and can be used in the bioremediation of petroleum contaminated environments. Keywords: Response surface, optimization, bioremediation, hydrocarbon, removal efficiency, Monocillium sp.

Extraction of Bio Polymers from Crustacean Shells and its Application in Refinery Wastewater Treatment

The fisheries sector is one of the most ancient and important sectors in the world and plays a significant role in providing the nutrition and socio-economic development of the country. The fish processing industry produces huge quantities of wastewater, encompassing significant amounts of contaminants in the form of soluble, colloidal, and particulate matters. The disposal of shellfish waste is a serious issue, and the effluents discharged from seafood-processing plants contain high amounts of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), dissolved solids, suspended solids, and turbidity. The existing waste management system lacks a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method. The current research focus on the extraction of a biopolymer chitosan from crab shells by ecofriendly methods and its application in refinery wastewater treatment. The chemical structure and crystallinity of the extracted chitosan was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses. Surface morphology and elemental composition were determined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX). Thermal properties were detected using Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The extracted chitosan was successfully employed in the batch treatment of refinery effluent by varying the experimental parameters (refinery effluent solution pH, contact time, dosage of chitosan, and stirring speed) and the optimizations of the processing conditions were established.