2023.08.03.126
Files > Volume 8 > Vol 8 No 3 2023 > Diyala 3
Treatment of wastewater introduced in oil refineries by using Sugarcane beads
Luma Taher Tuma
AL-Baaj1,*, Sabah Jassim Hasan2
1 the
University of Basrah, collage of Education and pure science
2 South Refinery Company.
* Corresponding Authors: [email protected].
Available from. http://dx.doi.org/10.21931/RB/2023.08.03.126
ABSTRACT
The
study assesses the wastewater treatment process in the oil refinery by using an
agricultural plant (sugarcane beads) to remove crude oil-contaminated water.
Experiments were carried out at different periods by using different
concentrations of oil-contaminated water in a continuous process system, which
has been established in our laboratory. Results show the efficiency of these
beads in reducing the Turbidity, TDS and TSS by 68%, 21%, and 12%,
respectively. The amount of hydrocarbons also decreased significantly
proportional to the time of the adsorbent process due to the physical and
chemical properties of these beads, making them an excellent adsorbent agent.
Keywords:
sugarcane beads, wastewater, refinery, total organic compounds,
adsorbent process
INTRODUCTION
The United Nations Environment Program defines
pollutants as any organic, chemical, or radioactive substance present in
wastewater that degrades the quality of this water. Pollutants are any
physical, chemical, or biological change in water quality that negatively
affects living organisms or makes the water unsuitable for the required uses.
Numerous sources can pollute water sources, rendering them unfit for drinking,
irrigation, and other services and causing environmental harm. The sources of
water pollution vary according to the various aspects of water use: 1
-Waste that
does not require spatial treatment but is collected and sorted according to its
nature (plastic, paper, and glass) to be disposed of using established methods.
-Polluted waste that must be treated before disposal
is classified into two types:
- Environmentally friendly waste, defined as materials
that can be removed or destroyed using traditional wastewater treatment methods
such as sedimentation, flotation, and filtering, may include aerobic biological
processes aimed at oxidizing and destroying most organic matter. The
treatment's success is typically measured and expressed in terms of (BOD)
biological Oxygen Demand or (COD) Chemical Oxygen Demand.
- Environmentally inappropriate wastes, which can be
defined as pollutants incompatible with previous treatment methods because they
contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, oils and oil derivatives,
considered organic compounds that are difficult to decompose when using
traditional methods.
Water-contaminated crude oil contains a high
concentration of hydrocarbons, including saturated, aromatic, and other
organometallic hydrocarbons, which pollute the environment. Some of the
hydrocarbons found in contaminated water are carcinogenic and genotoxic to
humans and other organisms 2
This could be because the waste crude oil contains
polyaromatic nuclear compounds (PAHs). Light PAHs have up to four rings, such
as naphthalene, pyrene, anthracene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene. In
contrast, heavy PAHs have more than four rings because (PAHs) known for their
carcinogenic and mutagenic tendencies have been found to accumulate in
significant amounts in these petroleum products 2.
Remediation of such oil-contaminated water has become
a problem in oil-producing countries such as Iraq, and more attention is
needed. This waste is typically treated with physical, chemical, and biological
techniques in oil refinery water treatment units before being disposed of in
the environment, as illustrated in Figure 1.
A
study of the status and harmful impacts of oil refinery effluents and
pre-treatment of pollutants of Iraqi oil refineries have been recently done by
researchers 3. Many studies that dealt with using nanotechnology to
treat water polluted with hydrocarbons resulting from refinery activities have
been applied 4. In South
Refineries Company, for example, (6000 –
8000) m3/ sec. of industrial water polluted with hydrocarbons are
pumped into the East Basra Canal, which affects the water environment 5.
Figure 1. Typical wastewater treatment of Refinery
One
of the treatment techniques for oil separation from wastewater is using
agricultural plants such as sugarcane beads, which are good bio-sorbents of
oil. Sugarcane stalks have one of the highest lignocellulose concentrations or
agro-industrial residues, which are composed of several functional components
such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, ash, and a small number of extractive
lignocelluloses matter, and which, due to their numerous and varied functional
groups, provide a solid, attractive force for the binding of pollutants ions.
Sugarcane bio-adsorbents contain several functional groups acting as adsorptive
sites, such as –OH and – COOH. These sites enable bio-adsorbents to attract and
bind pollutant ions by replacing them with hydrogen ions (ion exchange
adsorption) or by donating electron pairs or adsorbents 6,7.
Adsorption
It
is the accumulation of a gaseous or liquid adsorbate in the form of molecules,
atoms, or ions on the surface of another solid adsorbent material using the
weak Van der Waals forces. There are two types of adsorption (physical and
chemical). Numerous studies have shown that the type of adsorption can be
inferred depending on the connection between the adsorbent and the adsorbent
and the heat accompanying the adsorption.
-Physical
adsorption: It is also called Van der Waals adsorption because it occurs as a
result of strong bonding between molecules, ions, or atoms of the adsorbate
substance on the surface of the adsorbent so that it occurs on inert solid
surfaces and causes the electronic saturation of its atoms. The physical
adsorption is either single-layer or multi-layer. The layers are also
non-local; that is, it does not depend on the nature of the chemical adsorbent.
-Chemical
adsorption: It occurs when the adsorbent material tends to form different
chemical bonds associated with the adsorbent material, whether atoms,
molecules, or ions. Another under the same conditions.
It
is well known that both types of adsorption may co-occur; physical adsorption
occurs first, as it requires low temperatures, and then chemical adsorption
occurs with high temperatures, such as hydrogen adsorption on the surface of
nickel.
Factors
influencing the adsorption process:
The most important factors that influence the
adsorption process are 8:
Temperature:
the adsorption capacity is proportional to the temperature.
Acidity
function: The adsorption efficiency depends on the surface of both the
adsorbent surface and the adsorbent material.
Adsorbent
surface nature: The
efficiency of adsorption increases as the surface area of the adsorbent
increases because it increases the number of active adsorption sites, as
adsorption efficiency is dependent on the surface area of the adsorbent, the
physical and chemical properties, and the size of the pores.
Adsorbent
nature: Adsorption
efficiency is determined by the adsorbent's chemical and physical properties,
the size of the adsorbed particles, the steric chemistry and the number of
aromatic rings in the adsorbents, the molecular weight, and the ion size.
MATERIALS
AND METHODS
Sugarcane beads
were collected from the marshes of Basrah. 5kg of washed sugarcane was chopped
into smaller sizes with a kitchen knife, then crushed and squeezed to extract
the sugar-rich juice. The crushed beads were treated with 0.01M sulfuric acid
and dilute sodium hydroxide before being washed with distilled water.
The colorless
beads were dried in a vacuum oven at 100°C before being kept for batch
adsorption 9. Then, the different concentrations of water
contaminated with crude oil were prepared of (100,300, 500,1000, 7000) ppm and treated at
different times (1,2 and 5) min. The treatment method was carried out as in Figure
2.
The
density of Cued oil was determined according to the method [ASTM D 4052] by
using the Anton Par instrument. The analysis of polluted water before and after
treatment was carried out by using [ pH meter, conductivity meter, flame
photometry and oil in water (TOC) instrument supplied by Horiba Comp.] and the
results are presented in tables 1 and 2. Finally, scanning Electron Microscope analysis(SEM) for the
Sugarcane beads before and after treatment are shown in Figures 3 and 4
Figure 2. Scheme of the
treatment system
Table 1. shows the
results of water tests before and after treatment and the permissible
environmental limit.
Table 2. The results of
TOC tests for polluted water before and after treatment are shown
RESULTS
The
effectiveness of sugarcane beads in improving the specifications of water
contaminated with residual hydrocarbons from crude oil produced from Mishref field in Basra Governorate, which has
a density of (0.8675 gm/cm3) measured using a density measuring
device as shown in Table 1. It should be noted that the results only represent
the treatment of contaminated water by passing it through the reeds for one
stage. There is a 68 % reduction in the turbidity of the water before and after
treatment, as well as a reduction in the percentages of both TDS (total
dissolved solid) and TSS (total suspended solids). Chloride and sodium ions
decreased by (78 and 45 %), respectively. The tables also show that the
percentage of water conductivity has decreased by 11%. Table 2, on the other
hand, shows the activity of sugarcane beads for reducing hydrocarbons as (Total
organic compounds) TOC as a result of adsorption. Water-contaminated crude oil contains
a high concentration of hydrocarbons, including saturated, aromatic, and other
organometallic hydrocarbons, which pollute the environment. Some hydrocarbons in
contaminated water are carcinogenic and genotoxic to humans and other organisms.
This could be because the waste crude oil contains polyaromatic nuclear
compounds (PAHs). Light PAHs have up to four rings, such as naphthalene,
pyrene, anthracene, phenanthrene, and fluoranthene. In contrast, heavy PAHs
have more than four rings because (PAHs) known for their carcinogenic and
mutagenic tendencies have been found to accumulate in significant amounts in
these petroleum products.
Solvent
Adsorption: The adsorption of the solvent is greatly influenced by the
competition between the solvent molecules during the adsorption process, and it
is dependent on the interactions between the solute and the solvent, as well as
the adsorbing surface. The adsorption force at the surface.
The
research represents an attempt to use the modified sugarcane beads for the
treatment of industrial wastewater containing a mixture of petroleum
hydrocarbons produced from refineries to water sources by using an adsorption
process. The positive results of the research ( which is known as the first
attempt at treatment in South Refinery Company)
will shed light on an important issue, which is the exploitation of
available plants for the treatment of industrial water so that this water can
be reused at the industrial processes without being wasted in water sources.
Figure
3. The
SEM analysis of sugarcane beads after treatment for con.7000 ppm
(at 1,2, 5 min. respectively)
Figure 4. A
three-dimensional image of the nanomaterial by AFM
Figure 5. The SEM analysis of sugarcane beads after
treatment for con.100 ppm (at 1,2,5 min.
respectively)
Figure
6. Treatment of a sample of 100 ppm oil in
water
Figure 7. Treatment of a sample of 300 ppm oil in water
Figure 8. Treatment of a sample of 500 ppm oil in water
Figure 9. Treatment
of a sample of 1000 ppm oil in water
DISCUSSION
The
results obtained in this paper were presented in tablet No.1, showing the
performance of the sugarcane beads to improve both. Physical and chemical
specifications of the water by reducing the amount of turbidity value in the
wastewater from 12.5(NTU) before the treatment to 3.4 NTU. According to the
results shown in Table 1, the initial concentration of suspended solids in
wastewater was 23.6 ppm; this
concentration was decreased to 4.1 ppm by using sugarcane beads, which reveals
the effect of the cellulose units that provide a robust and attractive force
for the binding of pollutants ions. On the other hand, the concentration of
total dissolved solutions also decreased from 5645 ppm to 1194 ppm. Due to the
activity of functional groups contained in the sugarcane cellulose, the
concentration of chloride ions was minimized from 1008.9 ppm to 790.4 ppm.
[5,6]
The SEM indicated the results figures 3-8,
which illustrate the activity of sugarcane beads towards the hydrocarbons at
different times, indicate the useful of using these beads as an excellent
adsorbent agent due to their compositions of 50 % cellulose, 25 % hemicellulose
and 25 % lignin 9,10; sugarcane beads compete favorably with
synthetic adsorbents in oil removal from crude oil contaminated water 10,11.
Figures 5-8 illustrate the results obtained from Table 2 graphically, which
enhance the effectiveness of beads for reducing the amount of oil in wastewater
proportional to time; these results indicate
the significance of this method for wastewater treatment.
CONCLUSIONS
Sugarcane beads are an
excellent agricultural adsorption agent that can be used to treat crude
oil-contaminated water and improve the specification of wastewater introduced
in oil refineries so that it can be reused rather than discharged into the
sources of water.
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Received: 25 June 2023/ Accepted: 26 August 2023 / Published:15 September
2023
Citation: AL-Baaj , L.T.T.; Hasan, S.J.
Treat-ment of wastewater introduced in oil refineries by using Sugarcane
beads. Revis Bionatura 2023;8 (3) 126
http://dx.doi.org/10.21931/RB/2023.08.03.126