19
Reuse of Industrial Wastewater Effluent in the
Petrochemical Industry
N. I. Galil and Y. Levinsky
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
32000, Israel. email: galilno@tx.technion.ac.il. Tel: +972-4-8292645,
Fax: +972-4-8293629
Abstract
Wastewater treatment and reuse has been developed and applied at a
petrochemical complex in Haifa, Israel. The solution was based on: (1) multiplestage treatment, creating several technological barriers, in order to avoid
uncontrolled emissions into the neighboring marine environment; (2) maximal
reuse of treated effluent and oil, for minimizing the disposal of pollutants outside
the industrial zone; (3) step-by-step development, design, and implementation of
the treatment process enabled to establish the best operation and efficiency at the
existing units, and these could be used as starting conditions in the development of
the next treatment stages; (4) flexibility and completely independent operation of
the treatment units significantly increased the reliability of achieving a final
effluent of high quality. The treatment-recycle system in the petrochemical
industry provides cost-effective solutions and high-quality discharge to the
recipient waterbodies. The approach of treatment recycling serves as a trigger to
industrial management, in addition to regulatory requirements, to invest in watertreatment facilities.
1 Introduction
Process and manufacturing plants usually consume large amounts of water in
various production, cleaning, and rinsing operations. Wastewater contains
pollutants that are frequently environmentally regulated. An effective way to
minimize wastewater and pollutant emissions is to design wastewater recycling, so
that the used water could be reused to a maximum extent in the same plant.
Diwan et al. (1995) described the great potential for recycling of effluents to
solve water shortage for the industries, since in many cases the cost of treatment is
modest compared to overall benefits. Asano et al. (1996) mentioned the status of
national policies on wastewater treatment, wastewater reuse characteristics, and
some wastewater reuse experiences in Japan. Au et al. (1996) reported a great
economic efficiency obtained by the use of a low-cost filtration system working
on petrochemical secondary effluent.
H. Rubin / P. Nachtnebel / 1. Fuerst / U. Shamir
Preserving the Quality of Our Water Resources
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002
Reuse of Industrial Wastewater Effluent in the
Petrochemical Industry
N. I. Galil and Y. Levinsky
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
32000, Israel. email: galilno@tx.technion.ac.il. Tel: +972-4-8292645,
Fax: +972-4-8293629
Abstract
Wastewater treatment and reuse has been developed and applied at a
petrochemical complex in Haifa, Israel. The solution was based on: (1) multiplestage treatment, creating several technological barriers, in order to avoid
uncontrolled emissions into the neighboring marine environment; (2) maximal
reuse of treated effluent and oil, for minimizing the disposal of pollutants outside
the industrial zone; (3) step-by-step development, design, and implementation of
the treatment process enabled to establish the best operation and efficiency at the
existing units, and these could be used as starting conditions in the development of
the next treatment stages; (4) flexibility and completely independent operation of
the treatment units significantly increased the reliability of achieving a final
effluent of high quality. The treatment-recycle system in the petrochemical
industry provides cost-effective solutions and high-quality discharge to the
recipient waterbodies. The approach of treatment recycling serves as a trigger to
industrial management, in addition to regulatory requirements, to invest in watertreatment facilities.
1 Introduction
Process and manufacturing plants usually consume large amounts of water in
various production, cleaning, and rinsing operations. Wastewater contains
pollutants that are frequently environmentally regulated. An effective way to
minimize wastewater and pollutant emissions is to design wastewater recycling, so
that the used water could be reused to a maximum extent in the same plant.
Diwan et al. (1995) described the great potential for recycling of effluents to
solve water shortage for the industries, since in many cases the cost of treatment is
modest compared to overall benefits. Asano et al. (1996) mentioned the status of
national policies on wastewater treatment, wastewater reuse characteristics, and
some wastewater reuse experiences in Japan. Au et al. (1996) reported a great
economic efficiency obtained by the use of a low-cost filtration system working
on petrochemical secondary effluent.
H. Rubin / P. Nachtnebel / 1. Fuerst / U. Shamir
Preserving the Quality of Our Water Resources
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002