Environmental Radioactivity of TE-NORM Waste Produced from Petroleum Industry in Egypt: Review on Characterization and Treatment

Concentrations of TENORMs in the petroleum industry and their environmental and health effects

“…However, the scales were obtained in facilities, mostly in the section separators, oil and gas storage tanks, and pipelines. Some examples include the scales formed in the oil and gas elds in Italy, Egypt, Syria, Kazakhstan, 20,30,128,181 and in other studies. The reported studies showed that the scale phenomenon is a result of the slow uid ow rates, which facilitate the scale conguration process, and the large changes in pressure, temperature, and other physical and chemical factors on the liquids when passing through the machinery and equipment in the oil and gas industry.…”

“…[117][118][119] Alternatives to seawater injection are the reinjection of produced water or the injection of water from nearby formations. 20,35,44,119,120 The vast majority of produced water from the underground is usually disposed by injection into the ground either in the extraction or in the disposal wells. In marine oil boreholes seawater usually injected to preserve the pressure at a certain level to ease the production process.…”

“…However, the maximum size of the scale occurs in three areas, namely, the water lines associated with the separators (gas separated from oil and water), heater treaters (split the oil and water stages), and dehydrated gases, where sediments may accumulate in sizes up to 4 inch in thick. 20,35,83 The mean concentration of 232 Th 0.30 a , 226 Ra 0.65 a , 224 Ra < LD a , 40 K 4…”

“…High concentrations of background radiation in crude oil were reported for the rst time by Hempstead and Burton between 1920 and 1930; also the term has been reported by Russian and German researchers. [18][19][20][21][22] Preliminary assessments of occupational radiation exposure were recorded in the oil and gas industries a few decades ago, when Kolb and Wojcik discovered TENORMs in petroleum in 1985. 3,22,23 They measured the dose rate at many oil eld sites in northern Albania and determined the values of concentrations of these radionuclides: 228 Ra, 226 Ra and 222 Rn 3,20-23 the rst official survey from the point of view of radiation protection was conducted in 1970s and early 1980s, when the TENORMs were detected in the North Sea Oil Platforms.…”

“…These criteria were also recommended for adoption by the European Commission as the basic safety standards (BSS) by all European society countries. 20,22,25,[39][40][41] Several countries have implemented their own regulations on TENORMs based on these recommendations. The concentrations of TENORMs in oil and gas industries, 25,[39][40][41] measured globally and adopted by IAEA are shown in Table 1.…”