Pilot studies on enhancement of the refinery activated sludge process

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977 · Am. Pet. Inst., Publ.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5036888

Clark, W J; Crame, L W

Pilot studies on enhancement of the refinery activated sludge process designed to meet 1977 effluent limitations were conducted for the American Petroleum Institute to determine if effluent quality obtained by such enhancement would be equivalent to that obtained from granular carbon adsorption originally proposed for 1983. The modifications investigated were: chemicals addition to optimize pretreatment by air flotation or media filtration; the use of higher sludge ages; and the addition of up to 2500 mg/l. of high-surface-area powdered activated carbon to activated sludge systems. The studies showed it may be possible to achieve the required effluent quality limitations by the much more cost-effective method of adding powdered activated carbon to the 1977 activated sludge system without having to use granular carbon adsorption type technology. The optimized pretreatment and biological treatment with powdered carbon addition will generally reduce the concentration of polynuclear aromatics below the limit of detectability. The incremental cost of removing the additional 8 mg/l. of COD by granular carbon would be about $14.73/lb of COD at a typical 1 million gal/day design flow for a $987/day additional cost. Granular carbon costs would escalate to an additional $2750/day at a 5 million gal/day flow rate.

• Research Organization: Texaco Inc.
• OSTI ID: 5036888
• Journal Information: Am. Pet. Inst., Publ.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Pet. Inst., Publ.; (United States) Vol. 953; ISSN APIPC
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320305* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes-- Industrial Waste Management
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACTIVATED CARBON
ACTIVATED SLUDGE PROCESS
ADSORBENTS
AROMATICS
BIODEGRADATION
CARBON
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COST
DECOMPOSITION
ELEMENTS
FILTRATION
FLOTATION
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HYDROCARBONS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
MANAGEMENT
NONMETALS
OPTIMIZATION
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
PILOT PLANTS
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
PROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING