Refinery Wastewater Treatment: A true Technological Challenge

Crude oil and condensate refineries generate a large amount of wastewater that has both process and non-process origins. Depending on the type of crude oil, composition of condensate and treatment processes, the characteristics of refinery wastewater vary according to a complex pattern. The design and operation of modern refinery wastewater treatment plants are challenging and are essentially technology driven. In this investigation, the sources of wastewater pollutants have been traced to specific sources and operations, and suitable treatment technologies identified. Modern powerful tools such image analysis have been employed to characterize oil droplet sizes in oily wastewater and immobilized cell technology considered in biological reactor design for wide spectrum chemical pollutant degradation. A biomass extraction method was developed to harvest Pseudomonas P. and Baccili S. cells from a commercial biological product and acclimate them to a source of carbon rich in phenol, prior to immobilizing them in a suitable gel.