Characterization and Utilization of Acid Tar Waste From Crude Benzol Processing For Environmental Sustainability
Characterization and Utilization of Acid Tar Waste From Crude Benzol Processing For Environmental Sustainability
Characterization and Utilization of Acid Tar Waste From Crude Benzol Processing For Environmental Sustainability
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Article in IOSR Journal of Environmental Science Toxicology and Food Technology · January 2014
DOI: 10.9790/2402-08131621
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Abstract: This paper reviews the utilization of acid tars with the overall aim of reducing or eradicating the
environmental problems associated with acid tar landfill disposal at a local crude benzol refinery in Zimbabwe
.The review focused on disposal, characterization, composition and utilization of acid tars. Peer reviewed
journal and conference papers from 1980 to the current year were considered. The papers reviewed were mainly
from petroleum processing since the acidic nature of the tar can be assumed to be similar to that of crude benzol
processing and the databases used were Science direct, Hinari and Agora .The effects of the disposal of acid tar
in lagoon were reviewed. The utilisation of acid tar waste is dependent on the chemical composition hence work
on the characterization of acid tars was reviewed. The use G.C-MS was common in the characterization of acid
tars as compared to other analytical techniques. Some of the utilization processes which were reviewed included
among others the conversion of acid tar to asphaltenes, production of pavement binders, energy utilisation, acid
tar co-processing, membrane technology, ion exchangers and carbon adsorbents technique. The utilization of
acid tar waste hinges on effective treatment methods owing to its complex chemical composition.
Keywords: Crude benzol, Acid tar, Refining, Lagoons, Characterisation, Asphaltenes, Energy, membrane
technology, Remediation, Disposal
I. Introduction
Acid tars are basically derived from three processes namely re-refining of spent lubricating oils,
refining of petroleum fractions and in crude benzol refining. The refining of crude benzol involves washing with
concentrated sulphuric acid which sulphonates the more undesirable compounds and allows easier separation
and recovery of the Benzene, Toluene and Xylene fractions. The Acidic tarry waste material generated is
regarded industrially as a product of low commercial value and is disposed off in lagoons; however, acid tars
from crude benzol can be feedstocks for the synthesis of other valuable products. The focus in European,
American and Asian countries is on the remediation of acid tar lagoons created by former gas works sites,
benzol refining, refining petroleum fractions and in oil re–refining. The remediation activities were mainly
centred on reclaiming the land, burning and utilisation of the acid tars. In Africa and Zimbabwe in particular
there is no literature in support of the remediation and utilisation of the acid tars. The main objective of this
literature review was to make a close analysis of the various technical and scientific ways of utilising acid tars.
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Characterization and utilization of acid tar waste from crude benzol processing for environmental
[20] - - 73 24 - 3
[16] 0.014 3.21 52.15 6.29 0.14 37.85
[7] 63.8 - 6.9 - 29.3 -
[5] - 9.3±1.1 32.5±1.5 0.5±0.02 - 19.3±0.6
[5] 7.25±1 3.1±0.3 1.8±0.1 2.3±0.2
Generally the results from Table I indicate that the percentages of organic oils in the acid tars are higher than
corresponding sulphuric acid present in the samples. Fresh acid tar has a high percentage of sulphuric acid as
compared to the pond acid tar. The composition of acid tar is time dependent. This is also supported by [3] when
he observed that the percentage of sulphuric acid decreased with time in storage tanks where a solid film had
formed on the surface of the acid tar. [21] Have also shown that there is a decline in sulphuric acid in ponded
tars when he observed that the composition of the gas after decomposition of pond acid tar had 28.6 mol % of
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Characterization and utilization of acid tar waste from crude benzol processing for environmental
hydrogen sulphide and less than 1.2 mol % of sulphur dioxide. The differences in the percentages of the
sulphuric acids may be explained by the fact that the acid is either being consumed by chemical reactions or
evaporating into the air, thus there is need to find out what happens to the acid tar the minute it is produced to
about a year in a monitored environment. The percentage of sulphuric acid varies from sample to sample. The
presence of resins and asphaltenes in ponded acid tars supports that chemical reactions will have taken place
over time. The water content is very low in both fresh and pond acid tar.
The character of acid tars is complex. In the characterisation of acid tars, [5] observed two acid groups as
evidenced by the two plateaus shown in figure 1, suggesting the presence of both organic acids and inorganic
acids in the acid tar.
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Characterization and utilization of acid tar waste from crude benzol processing for environmental
units. The auxiliary stages of the process involved neutralisation and treatment of the acid waters generated and
the recovery of the solvents used. Acid tars of the following composition were processed in an experimental set
up: acid number, 14mg KOH/g, 21.7% paraffin and naphthalene; 5.9% aromatics; 12.9% resins; 47.1% residue
(oxidation products, carbenes, carboids, and solid residue) and 12.4% asphaltenes. The yield from the process
was 60% solid fuel, 12.5% resin and 26% oils (industrial type).
[33] Sydney Tar ponds. 51%Moisture , 20.62% ash, 18.14% 9.47 MJ/kg
(Nova Scotia Canada C, 7.37%H, 0.55%N, 1.12%S
[34] Avonmouth England 34.90%C, 5.50%H, 6.35% O 18.648kJ/kg
,0.30%N, 2.12%S, 9% Moisture,
4.03%Ash,
25 to 50%w/w Lead in ash,
5000 Cp Viscosity and 1.3 Specific
gravity
[35] Patented a process for the manufacture of boiler fuel from solid and high viscosity acid tars mixed with a
straight run petroleum fraction. The resultant boiler fuel yield was found to be 92-97.4 wt %. In another
research, [27] showed that high yields of light petroleum products could be obtained from the thermal cracking
of the organic components of the acid tars. The designed process by [27] yielded gaseous hydrocarbons
(primarily, C1 -C4) as well as liquid hydrocarbons that corresponded with the boiler or furnace fuel by
composition. An enriched organic matter solid fuel was derived from acid tars using an organic admixture [36]
and [37]. The admixture was pulverized and simultaneously heated to 200 – 3000C, it was observed that the
organic matter of the acid tar when heated to 200-3000C behaves as a reducing medium for sulphuric acid. Apart
from processing the acid tars into a suitable fuel, some researchers tried to use the raw acid tar as a basic fuel.
[23] Investigated the possibility of utilising the bottom layer of the acid tars which had been ponded for over a
century at D.I Mendeleev Yaroslavl's oil refinery. The ponded acid tar had separated into three layers and the
potential energy from the bottom layer was estimated at 16.76*10 9 GJ [23]. Their attempt to utilize the bottom
layer as a basic fuel for the manufacturing energy carriers in ordinary boilers was a challenge due to the
relatively high ash content of about 6.5%, and the viscosities which did not allow burning in traditional boilers
with fuel nozzles. However, with improved combustion technologies such as the circulating fluidised bed,
combustion of the acid tars was found to be feasible. The technology proved to be effective in burning fuels with
high moisture content and sulphur content without using expensive systems for scrubbing Nitrogen and Sulphur
oxides from gases [38]. [39] Noted that the development of such fluidised bed technology on poor quality fuels
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Characterization and utilization of acid tar waste from crude benzol processing for environmental
was demonstrated way back in the 1960s. [40] attempted co-combustion of acid tars with coal in a bubbling
fluidised bed combustor with a total heat input of about 2MW th, with the share of the acid tar being about a half.
A surprising result of 99% combustion efficiency was attained. The use of a fluidised bed combustor for burning
acid tar, however, required that limestone be added to the bed material in order to provide some degree of
sulphur capture [40]. By applying the limestone to the bed material, around 417ppm as opposed to 600ppm SO2
emission limit as stipulated by the Commission of the European Communities was achieved using this method
[40]. It can, therefore, be concluded from such an experience that the burning of viscous and sulphur containing
wastes such as the acid tars can be demonstrated with a minimum effect on the environment. [41] Noted that the
incineration of acid tars in fluidised bed technologies as a fuel substitute have not been well investigated.
IX. Conclusion
A review of studies on acid tars has revealed that the environmental impacts of acid tars have not been
fully explored and the constituents of the acid tar obtained by the various researchers differed. No resemblance
in terms of the composition by weight can be drawn from these studies; however, the basic characteristics of
acid tars remain similar despite the process by which the acid tar was derived. Analysis of acid tar requires
pretreatment and the use of gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometer detector is common. Various
methods for the processing of acid tar into utilisable product have been tried in an attempt to reduce the long
standing environmental problems associated with the disposal of acid tar in lagoons. Some of the utilisation
processes which were reviewed included among others the conversion of acid tar to asphaltenes, production of
pavement binders, energy utilisation, acid tar co-processing, membrane technology, ion exchangers and carbon
adsorbents technique. These techniques, however, have not been conclusively investigated owing to the
complexity of the acid tar. Accordingly, the deep-seated need for environmental sustainability still remains.
Therefore, the problems experienced with the land fill disposal of highly corrosive acid tar wastes mean that an
effective treatment method and utilisation techniques is needed for existing acid tar lagoons and the quantities
that are still being generated by both crude petroleum and coal carbonisation processes world-wide.
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