Evaluation of select trade-offs between ground-water remediation and waste minimization for petroleum refining industry
- Discovery Energy, Inc., Tulsa, OK (United States)
- Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK (United States)
An investigation comparing environmental remediation alternatives and attendant costs for a hypothetical refinery site located in the Arkansas River alluvium was completed. Transport from the land`s surface to and through the ground water of three spill sizes was simulated, representing a base case and two possible levels of waste minimization. Remediation costs were calculated for five alternative remediation options, for three possible regulatory levels and alternative site locations, for four levels of technology improvement, and for eight different years. It is appropriate from environmental and economic perspectives to initiate significant efforts and expenditures that are necessary to minimize the amount and type of waste produced and disposed during refinery operations; or conversely, given expected improvements in technology, is it better to wait until remediation technologies improve, allowing greater environmental compliance at lower costs? The present work used deterministic models to track a light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) spill through the unsaturated zone to the top of the water table. Benzene leaching from LNAPL to the ground water was further routed through the alluvial aquifer. Contaminant plumes were simulated over 50 yr of transport and remediation costs assigned for each of the five treatment options for each of these years. The results of these efforts show that active remediation is most cost effective after a set point or geochemical quasi-equilibrium is reached, where long-term improvements in technology greatly tilt the recommended option toward remediation. Finally, the impacts associated with increasingly rigorous regulatory levels present potentially significant penalties for the remediation option, but their likelihood of occurrence is difficult to define.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 367859
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Energy Engineering, Vol. 122, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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