Oil & Gas Pollution & Control PET 416 Waste Treatment Methods

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Raising a new Generation of Leaders
Oil & Gas Pollution & Control

PET 416
Waste Treatment Methods
Waste Treatment Methods
The purpose of waste treatment is to lower the potential hazards associated with a
waste by:
 reducing its toxicity,
 minimizing its volume and/or
 altering its state so that it is suitable for a particular disposal option.
For many wastes, treatment is required prior to final disposal. But not all methods
can be used on all waste streams.
The treatment methods varies in terms of effectiveness and cost.
Treatment involves removal of dissolved or suspended H/C and solids from
water
2
Waste Treatment Of Water
The contaminants in water commonly encountered in the petroleum industry
can grouped into two:
• Hydrocarbons
• Solids
The contaminants can either be:
• Suspended
• dissolved
3
Removal of suspended hydrocarbons
Oil suspended in water (oil in water emulsion ) is the common form of
suspended hydrocarbon wastes.
Methods of treatment include:
 Gravitational separation
 Filtration
 Biological degradation
4
Gravity Separation
Schematic of a horizontal separator.
5
Gravity Separation
Procedure:
• First stage is to pass the water through large tanks to allow the phases to
separate.
• These tanks are called free water knockouts, wash tanks, settling tanks or gun
barrels.
• The effectiveness of the process depends on the droplet size and the settling
time.
• Plate separators can be used to improve the separation of oil & water.
6
Gravity Separation-Hydrocyclones
Hydrocyclones are used to further separate oil from water.
• High velocity stream is injected tangentially into the conically shaped
hydrocyclone, creating a vortex.
• These only works for inlet pressure sufficient enough to drive flow(flanigan
et. al., 1989).
• The pressure must not be too high to oil shear droplet into smaller sizes.
• A related way to enhance gravity separation is through a decanting centrifuge.
Another method is Heater Treatment and Gas floatation.
7
Schematic of a Hydrocyclone
8
Assignment
Write on the operational challenges with the following
oil separation equipment
• Plate separators
• Hydrocyclones
• Gas floatation
9
Filtration
One way to remove oil droplets from water is to pass the water through water-
wet filters or membranes.
• The filter media uses capillary pressure to trap oil and prevent it from passing
out of the filter
Schematic of a microfiltration capillary tube
10
Filtration
Types of filtration:
i. Micro-filtration
ii. Filtration coalescence
iii. Chemical coagulants – lime, alum and polyelectrolytes.
iv. Electric field separation
11
Biological Processes
The biological processes rely on bacterial degradation of hydrocarbons.

• They have limited application in the removal of free hydrocarbons from waste
water streams in the petroleum industry because:
 They are too slow and not appropriate for high oil concentrations.
12
Removal of Dissolved hydrocarbons
Adsorption
An effective way to remove low levels of dissolved hydrocarbons is to adsorb it

onto a solid medium.
• The most widely used medium is activated carbon.
• pH and temperature of the system impacts the effectiveness of the activated
carbon
• All free oil must be removed prior to the use of activated carbon to prevent
clogging
• Adsorption medium include: coal, natural & synthetic resin
13
Volatilization
Volatile organic carbon compounds (VOCs) be removed from water by lowering

the partial pressure of the compound in the vapor in contact with the water.
• When the partial pressure of the dissolved VOCs in water exceed that of its
vapor pressure, the compounds will come out of solution and enter vapor
phase.
Volatilization methods include:
 Air stripping
14
Volatilization
In air stripping, air and water are passed through a containment vessel in
countercurrent flow where Vocs evaporate into air.
• Removal can be enhanced through heating or
• By use of steam, because higher temperature increase their vapor pressure
Volatilization can also be enhanced by pulling a vaccum on the water
By lowering the total system pressure
15
Precipitation
The solubility of many organic molecules decreases as the pH decreases.

• By lowering the pH, some organic materials can be precipitated
• Precipitation will not remove all dissolved hydrocarbons and will acidify the
water.
16
ultraviolet radiation
Ultraviolet radiation can also be used to break down hydrocarbons . In this

process:
• High energy, short wavelength photons are used to break chemical bonds of
dissolved hydrocarbons.
• At times combined with heat at high temperatures e.g from solar panels
• Kind of too expensive though.
17
Oxidation
Dissolved hydrocarbons can also be destroyed through oxidation.

• Ozone, peroxide, chlorine or permangenate have all been tested to be effective
in breaking chemical bonds.
• Oxidation must be conducted at high temperatures
• Oxidation is not practical for most filed applications
18
Removal of Suspended Solids
Gravity Separation
Suspended water – cuttings from drilling & sand/clay particles produced during
production.
• The simplest way is to use gravitational settling.
• Fluids can be discharged into pits or tanks, where solids settle to the bottom.
• Not effective for very small particles
• The use of settling pits may be limited by environmental regulations and
future liability
19
Filtration
Suspended solids can equally be remove by filtering the water.

• The water passes through the filter, the solid are retained.
• Filtration has considerable promise for separating oil field wastes
(Townley et al., 1989)
20
Coagulation
This is done by coagulating (flocculate) the particles into larger agglomerations.

• The larger agglomerations can then be separated more easily by gravitational
settling, centrifugation or filtration.
• To enhance the coagulation, chemicals are added to overcome the electrostatic
repulsive charges on the solids to allow for better flocculation.
• Chemical additives includes – calcium chloride, ferric chloride or aluminum
potassium sulfate.
21
Removal of Dissolved Solids
Most waste water also contains dissolved solids, particularly salt, hardened ions
(Calcium & Magnesium), and Heavy metals.
Variety of methods exist which vary considerably in cost and effectiveness.
i. Ion exchange
ii. Precipitation
iii. Reverse Osmosis
iv. Evaporation/Distillation
v. Biological Processes
22
Treatment of Solids
During drilling and production activities, a substantial volume of contaminated
cuttings, soil and produced solids are generated. The two contaminant of solid
are water and hydrocarbon
Methods of dewatering:
i. Evaporation
ii. Percolation
iii. Mechanical methods – use of shale shaker, settling pond & hydrocyclones.
23
Treatment of Solids
Removal of Hydrocarbons
A variety of methods are available to remove hydrocarbons from solids, such as

drill cuttings, contaminated soil and produced sand.
These methods include:
 Washing
 Adsorption
 Filtration
 Heating
 Solvent extraction
 Incineration
 Biological degradation
24

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www.covenantuniversity.edu.

Raising a new Generation of Leaders

Oil & Gas Pollution & Control

Schematic of a horizontal separator.

Schematic of a microfiltration capillary tube

The biological processes rely on bacterial degradation of hydrocarbons.

An effective way to remove low levels of dissolved hydrocarbons is to adsorb it

Volatile organic carbon compounds (VOCs) be removed from water by lowering

The solubility of many organic molecules decreases as the pH decreases.

Ultraviolet radiation can also be used to break down hydrocarbons . In this

Dissolved hydrocarbons can also be destroyed through oxidation.

Suspended solids can equally be remove by filtering the water.

This is done by coagulating (flocculate) the particles into larger agglomerations.

A variety of methods are available to remove hydrocarbons from solids, such as

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