Removal of Oil from Waste-water of Eloped Refinery Company Using Biogases

Abstract

The chemical analysis of the parameters; hydrogen value (pH), total dissolved solid (TDS) dissolved oxygen (D.O), total hardness (TH), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biological oxygen demand (BOD), of Elobied Refinery Company (ERC) waste-water and treated waste-water by Bagasse adsorbent were studied. The effects of particle size and voids fractions on loading and flooding points are also investigated. Skimming the oil from waste-water is conducted using an API pilot plant. The pilot plant of a channel length of 65.0 cm, width of 2.0 cm and depth of 14.0 cm under gravity flow. The ability of Bagasse material to adsorb emulsified oil from oily refinery waste-water was studied in a fixed packed bed column. Fixed packed bed experiments were conducted, using four different volumetric flow rates and four different packed heights at various packed weights. Low flow rate and high heights of packed bed were found to be more effective for the adsorption of oil under all the tested conditions, giving an efficiency of 87.6%. Optimum adsorption of oil was at a flow rate of 0.40 L/min, packed bed weight of 30 g and packed bed height of 40 cm with percentage removal of 87.0%. The same removal efficiency was obtained at ambient conditions with long residence time. Small values of voids fraction were found to be more efficient than high values but the problem is the flooding point. In column studies, it was observed that the decrease in flow rate resulted in an increase in the adsorption efficiency. The Bagasse adsorbent materials were found to be an efficient media for the removal of oils in continuous mode using fixed bed column. Different column design parameters like adsorption rate and adsorption capacity were calculated. It was found that the adsorption rate, voids of packing and adsorption capacity enhanced the efficiency of oil separation. A scale-up of the pilot plant data were used for a Bagasse filter design and the cake is utilized as an energy source for steam and electricity generation, with an improved caloric value.