TREATMENT OF EFFLUENTS FROM

PETROLEUM REFINERIES

TECHNICAL SEMINAR ( 12CH82 )

By-
Asheesh Padiyar (1RV12CH006)
Department of Chemical Engineering
R.V College of Engineering
A petrochemical Refinery

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 JUSTIFICATION

• Petroleum refinery effluents (PRE’s) are major source of

aquatic environmental pollution (Oil, Grease and other
toxic organic compounds)

• Crude oil remains to be the most important raw material.

Around 44 % increase in production in next 20 years,
which makes processing of crude oil and PRE handling
globally important issues[1]

• Processing of crude oil consumes a lot of water, studies

have showed that the volume of PRE’s generated is 0.4-1.6
times the crude oil processed[1]

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OVERALL REFINERY WATER
BALANCE

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CONTIMINANTS IN RAW WATER
AND METHOD FOR REMOVAL
• Turbidity- Coagulation, settling filtration

• Hardness- Softening, distillation, surfactants

• Alkalinity- Lime treatment, anion exchange

• Oil- Oil/water separators ,coagulation , filtration

• Dissolved solids- Softening processes

• Suspended solids-Sedimentation ,filtration

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 PROCESS WATER
Water that has been in intimate contact with the
hydrocarbons in the refinery.

• Desalter effluent
• Sour water
• Tank bottom draws
• Spent caustic

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 DESALTER

• Prevent fouling

• Reduce corrosion caused by formation of HCl

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Typical desalter unit configuration

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 SOUR WATER

• Steam is used as a stripping medium and as a diluent

to reduce the hydrocarbon partial pressure in catalytic
cracking and other applications.

• Steam is condensed in presence of hydrocarbons

which contain hydrogen sulphide and ammonia hence
requiring pretreatment before reuse.

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Sour water stripper configuration

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TANK BOTTOM DRAWS

• The incoming crude to refineries normally contains

water and sediments (mud) that are picked up when
the oil is extracted from the wells—this is referred
to as bottom sediment and water (BS&W).

• When the crude is stored in large tanks, the BS&W

settles to the bottom and must be periodically
removed.

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Crude tank water draw
DESALTER EFFLUENT TREATMENT
• Desalter oil/water separation- Inorganic salts are present
in the crude oil as emulsified solution of salt. The
amount of water received at the refinery with crude is
about 0.1 -2.0 % by volume.

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• Desalter effluent stripper

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SEQUENCE FOR TREATING PRE’s

[3]
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• Primary treatment

API separator
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Dissolved air floatation system

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• Secondary treatment

1. Suspended growth process

A. Activated sludge
B. Aerated lagoons

2. Attached growth process

A. Trickling filters
B. Rotating biological contactors

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Activated sludge system

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Trickling filter

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• Tertiary treatment

• Total suspended solids (TSS)

• Chemical oxygen demand (COD)

• Dissolved and suspended metals

• Trace organics such poly-aromatic hydrocarbons

(PAHs)

Effluent from the biological treatment system typically contains

about 25 to 80 mg/l of suspended solids depending on the operating
conditions in the clarifier. Refineries at many locations need to meet
limits as low as 15 mg/l on a consistent basis.[2]

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 Anthracite
Coal

Sand

Sand filtration

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NEED FOR POSSIBLE NEW
TECHNOLOGIES
Several advancement have been made to improve performance
ranging from bio-augmentation to fluidized bioreactors.
However, the problems of high sludge generation, low
tolerance to toxic load and organic shock coupled with a slow
degradation rate persist. Other methods are either require
extreme temperature and pressure operating conditions or
cannot handle large volumes of refinery waste waters
effectively.

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• Reverse electro dialysis (RED)

• Photocatalytic degradation
A process that potentially mineralizes all of the organic
and inorganic components typically found in the refinery
effluent to environmentally benign by-products

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References
1. “Petroleum refining water/wastewater use and
management”- IPIECA
2. Basheer Hasan Diya’uddeen “Treatment technologies
for petroleum refinery effluents: A review” Process
Safety and Environmental Protection 8 9 (2011) 95–
105
3. Javad ,” Organic Pollutants Removal from Petroleum
Refinery Wastewater with Nano-titania Photo-catalyst
and UV Light Emission” International Journal of
Photo-energy ,Volume 2012
4. Felipe Pombo, “Technology Roadmap for Wastewater
Reuse in Petroleum Refineries in Brazil”, Journal of
Environmental Management in Practice, DOI:
10.5772/20297
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THANK YOU

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