What are the Challenges for Wastewater Treatment in Oil refineries?
Much of the industrial wastewater treatment equipment used by refineries, such as filtration, final solids separation, and sludge dewatering equipment, is not designed specifically for treating refinery wastewater. These types of traditional equipment typically operate in the same way that they would in a variety of other industrial wastewater treatment applications.
Equipment for Emulsified Oil Removal
The oil water separator overflow is routed to a flocculation tank, which is then routed to a DAF/DNF unit. This unit can break up emulsions to separate oil and suspended solids with the help of chemicals – a coagulant, a polymer, and sometimes an acid – allowing plants to reduce solids and oil wastewater.
The DAF/DNF uses a tank that saturates solid particles with micro bubbles of nitrogen to facilitate this process (or air). Flotation is used to aid particle separation in this process.
To address safety concerns and prevent volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from escaping into the atmosphere, plants cover these separation vessels and often blankets them with an inert gas, such as nitrogen. The saturation tank or a saturation pumping system causes the gas to form microbubbles, which carry the lighter solids and oil particles to the top, where they are removed by a skimmer mechanism and deposited in a sludge box.
Some equipment, however, is designed specifically for use in the oil refining and petrochemical industries.
These types of equipment are more susceptible to wastewater changes caused by crude-oil:
1-Technology Changes
Cloud computing, virtualization, and hosted applications are examples of information technology that can improve operations and potentially reduce costs. However, with these advancements come security concerns, which may dampen the positive effects of new technology.
Energy recovery is becoming increasingly important in wastewater treatment, which means that those entities' functions are changing. What was once regarded as a waste disposal organization may now be regarded as a resource recovery organization.
2-Concerns about funding
A reduction in non-revenue water and water main breaks could have a significant impact on a utility's bottom line and future resource needs. A new approach to financial management would be beneficial, but that is easier said than done when many utilities are stuck in funding methods that have been in place for decades. Because of the all-too-common mismatch between funding levels and the demands for safe, dependable operations and capital spending programs, funding alternatives such as shared revenue and public/private partnerships may become more viable options.
3-Regulations are being increased/expanded
Concerns about rising regulations are consistently near the top of the list in every geographical region. In terms of spending, the majority of large-scale programs funded by utilities are those mandated by federal or state regulations, such as nutrient removal and drinking water quality standards. The challenge now is to balance these costs with deferred infrastructure maintenance.
4-Scarcity of water
Water scarcity and conservation issues are rated quite differently by geographical area
5-Water Loss
Non-revenue water loss indicates a low level of concern among respondents. Non-revenue water, on the other hand, may play a larger role in terms of operational and capital funding challenges.
Conclusion
Many of these issues are intertwined. Infrastructure upgrades necessitate funding, which necessitates consumer value and support. When making decisions and planning for the future in the water and wastewater treatment for oil industries, it is best to consider all of these concerns rather than just one or two variables.
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