Advanced Bioreactor Treatments of Hydrocarbon-Containing Wastewater

Abstract

This review discusses bioreactor-based methods for industrial hydrocarbon-containing wastewater treatment using different (e.g., stirred-tank, membrane, packed-bed and fluidized-bed) constructions. Aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid bioreactors are becoming increasingly popular in the field of oily wastewater treatment, while high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons usually require physico-chemical pre-treatments. Most efficient bioreactor techniques employ immobilized cultures of hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms, either defined consortia or mixed natural populations. Some advantages of fluidized-bed bioreactors over other types of reactors are shown, such as large biofilm–liquid interfacial area, high immobilized biomass concentration and improved mass transfer characteristics. Several limitations, including low nutrient content and the presence of heavy metals or toxicants, as well as fouling and contamination with nuisance microorganisms, can be overcome using effective inocula and advanced bioreactor designs. The examples of laboratory studies and few successful pilot/full-scale applications are given relating to the biotreatment of oilfield wastewater, fuel-contaminated water and refinery effluents.

Treatment of industrial oily wastewater by advanced technologies: a review

“…Bioreactor technology is employed for the treatment of oily wastewater owing to its ability to permit steady and flexible operational conditions, high biomass retention times, tolerance to toxic and recalcitrant pollutants, high microbial growth and organic carbon oxidation rates as well as enhanced process performance (Hamoda and Al-Ghusain 1998;Galvez et al 2003;Rodgers et al 2003;Kuyukina et al 2020). Vendramel et al (2015) treated high-strength petroleum refinery wastewater using an aerobic submerged fixed-bed reactor.…”

“…Oil-contaminated wastewater is produced from various industries including metal processing industries, restaurants, slaughterhouses, dairy industries, poultry processing industries, edible oil refineries, petrochemical industries, tannery industries, etc. (Adetunji 2017;Sungur and Özkan 2017;Adetunji and Olaniran 2018;Kuyukina et al 2020;Sanghamitra et al 2021) (Fig. 1).…”

“…The production and discharge of raw and inadequately treated oily wastewater increase yearly owing to brisk urbanization and industrial growth (Affandi et al 2014;Kuyukina et al 2020). The oily wastewater-producing industries make use of huge volume of water for different operations (such as equipment and washing facilities, product production), leading to the generation of large amounts of wastewater with consequential upsurge in disposal and harsh pollution problems, thus resulting in environmental risks and hindering the normal operations of the ecosystems (Porwal et al 2015).…”

“…Owing to strict policies for effluent discharge and incessant desire for re-use of treated water, treatment of oily wastewater has become imperative (Qin et al 2007;Kuyukina et al 2020). Factors such as wastewater composition (high, medium, or low strength), regulatory limitations, costs, treatment efficiency and end use of wastewater affect the selection of techniques for treatment of oily wastewater (Rajasulochana and Preethy 2016).…”

Petroleum Hydrocarbon Removal from Wastewaters: A Review

“…normalized to the boiling point of an n-alkane series, or its retention time on a non-polar b.p. gas chromatographic (GC) column [170,171]. # Aquifer properties: effective porosity 0.25, f OC 0.025 to 0.0025, and bulk density 2500/kg/m −3 .…”