by their discharges, oil spillage and waste generation during storage, processing and
transportation. The earth’s surface water and ground water may be affected by the
polluted wastewater from petroleum industries, thereby disturbing the ecosystem.
Hence, all operations of hydrocarbon industries should ensure compliance with the
applicable regulations related to emissions and waste management. All industries are
bound to obey some regulations like occupational safety and health administration,
oil pollution act, spill prevention control, clean air act, clean water act and safe
drinking water act, which are related to water as well as environmental protection.
According to these acts, all petroleum industries should have wastewater treatment
plants. Hydrocarbons are the potential pollutants from these industries.
The effluents from petroleum industries have high pH (>7), high biochemical
oxygen demand (>30 mg/L), high chemical oxygen demand (>125 mg/L) and high
total suspended solids (>30 mg/L). So, this type of wastewater must be treated by
preliminary, primary, secondary and tertiary treatments to achieve the specified
effluent quality standards. In preliminary and primary treatment process, there is
only physical separation of pollutants. The biochemical oxygen demand is decreased
by biological processes in secondary treatment. In tertiary process, the effluents are
treated with chemicals and thereby lowering the chemical oxygen demand of
wastewater. This chapter describes about the different sources and various kinds of
water pollutants from petroleum industries and their abatement process.
Keywords Petroleum refinery effluents · Hydrocarbon pollutants · Biochemical
oxygen demand · Chemical oxygen demand · Environmental impact
8.1 Introduction
The growth of petroleum industries is increasing with the rising demand for global
energy and petrochemicals. Petroleum industries have main two sectors – upstream
and downstream. The upstream sector includes exploration and production of crude
oil, whereas the downstream refers to all the refinery operations, that is processing of
crude oil for production of marketable fuel oil as well as the petrochemical industries
(Damian 2013; Palaniandy et al. 2017). In upstream section, for the purpose of
drilling and exploration, different chemicals such as drilling mud are used. While
drilling, some of these chemicals are contaminated with ground water and surface
water. After drilling, crude oil is transported to refineries through pipelines or via
ships. During transportation, sea water, ground water and surface water might be
contaminated with oil by oil spillage due to leakage in pipelines and ships (Helmy
and Kardena 2015; Olajire 2014).
Water pollution can also occur during crude oil processing, handling and transportation. Refinery wastewater includes process water form distillation columns,
extractors, heat exchangers, rejected boiler feed-water, blow-down water from
cooling tower, washing of equipment, etc. During refining, hydrocarboncontaminated water must be treated in the wastewater treatment facility prior to
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transportation. The earth’s surface water and ground water may be affected by the
polluted wastewater from petroleum industries, thereby disturbing the ecosystem.
Hence, all operations of hydrocarbon industries should ensure compliance with the
applicable regulations related to emissions and waste management. All industries are
bound to obey some regulations like occupational safety and health administration,
oil pollution act, spill prevention control, clean air act, clean water act and safe
drinking water act, which are related to water as well as environmental protection.
According to these acts, all petroleum industries should have wastewater treatment
plants. Hydrocarbons are the potential pollutants from these industries.
The effluents from petroleum industries have high pH (>7), high biochemical
oxygen demand (>30 mg/L), high chemical oxygen demand (>125 mg/L) and high
total suspended solids (>30 mg/L). So, this type of wastewater must be treated by
preliminary, primary, secondary and tertiary treatments to achieve the specified
effluent quality standards. In preliminary and primary treatment process, there is
only physical separation of pollutants. The biochemical oxygen demand is decreased
by biological processes in secondary treatment. In tertiary process, the effluents are
treated with chemicals and thereby lowering the chemical oxygen demand of
wastewater. This chapter describes about the different sources and various kinds of
water pollutants from petroleum industries and their abatement process.
Keywords Petroleum refinery effluents · Hydrocarbon pollutants · Biochemical
oxygen demand · Chemical oxygen demand · Environmental impact
8.1 Introduction
The growth of petroleum industries is increasing with the rising demand for global
energy and petrochemicals. Petroleum industries have main two sectors – upstream
and downstream. The upstream sector includes exploration and production of crude
oil, whereas the downstream refers to all the refinery operations, that is processing of
crude oil for production of marketable fuel oil as well as the petrochemical industries
(Damian 2013; Palaniandy et al. 2017). In upstream section, for the purpose of
drilling and exploration, different chemicals such as drilling mud are used. While
drilling, some of these chemicals are contaminated with ground water and surface
water. After drilling, crude oil is transported to refineries through pipelines or via
ships. During transportation, sea water, ground water and surface water might be
contaminated with oil by oil spillage due to leakage in pipelines and ships (Helmy
and Kardena 2015; Olajire 2014).
Water pollution can also occur during crude oil processing, handling and transportation. Refinery wastewater includes process water form distillation columns,
extractors, heat exchangers, rejected boiler feed-water, blow-down water from
cooling tower, washing of equipment, etc. During refining, hydrocarboncontaminated water must be treated in the wastewater treatment facility prior to
230
M. Samanta and D. Mitra