Petroleum coke adsorption as a water management option for oil sands process-affected water

Zubot, Warren; MacKinnon, Michael D.; Chelme-Ayala, Pamela; Smith, Daniel; El-Din, Mohamed Gamal

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.04.024

Cited by 115 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The lower-molecular-weight (i.e., lower carbon and Z numbers) NAs have been shown to have higher biodegradability in previous studies (4,75). In contrast, the higher-molecular-weight NAs (i.e., higher carbon and Z numbers) show increased adsorption to GAC due to increases in hydrophobicity and nonpolarity of NAs in these groups (73,76). These longer molecules can be adsorbed more readily on the GAC surface (73) and can more easily approach the GAC surface to reach GAC pores.…”

Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…It has been reported that classical NAs include mostly highly branched, cyclic compounds, with high molecular weights and long carbon chains which lead to this higher hydrophobicity (73). Thus, the higher hydrophobicity of the NAs was attributed to the higher adsorption affinity to GAC and biofilms; in addition, higher rates of removal of classical NAs were observed.…”

Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the higher-molecular-weight NAs (i.e., higher carbon and Z numbers) show increased adsorption to GAC due to increases in hydrophobicity and nonpolarity of NAs in these groups (73,76). These longer molecules can be adsorbed more readily on the GAC surface (73) and can more easily approach the GAC surface to reach GAC pores. Based on this assessment, the combination of biodegradation and adsorption could potentially lead to the removal of all molecular weights of NAs.…”

Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Next-Generation Pyrosequencing Analysis of Microbial Biofilm Communities on Granular Activated Carbon in Treatment of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water

Islam

Zhang

McPhedran

et al. 2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

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The development of biodegradation treatment processes for oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) has been progressing in recent years with the promising potential of biofilm reactors. Previously, the granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilm process was successfully employed for treatment of a large variety of recalcitrant organic compounds in domestic and industrial wastewaters. In this study, GAC biofilm microbial development and degradation efficiency were investigated for OSPW treatment by monitoring the biofilm growth on the GAC surface in raw and ozonated OSPW in batch bioreactors. The GAC biofilm community was characterized using a next-generation 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing technique that revealed that the phylum Proteobacteria was dominant in both OSPW and biofilms, with further in-depth analysis showing higher abundances of Alpha-and Gammaproteobacteria sequences. Interestingly, many known polyaromatic hydrocarbon degraders, namely, Burkholderiales, Pseudomonadales, Bdellovibrionales, and Sphingomonadales, were observed in the GAC biofilm. Ozonation decreased the microbial diversity in planktonic OSPW but increased the microbial diversity in the GAC biofilms. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed similar bacterial gene copy numbers (>10 9 gene copies/g of GAC) for both raw and ozonated OSPW GAC biofilms. The observed rates of removal of naphthenic acids (NAs) over the 2-day experiments for the GAC biofilm treatments of raw and ozonated OSPW were 31% and 66%, respectively. Overall, a relatively low ozone dose (30 mg of O 3 /liter utilized) combined with GAC biofilm treatment significantly increased NA removal rates. The treatment of OSPW in bioreactors using GAC biofilms is a promising technology for the reduction of recalcitrant OSPW organic compounds.O pen-pit mining of Canada's Athabasca oil sands produces large quantities of bitumen coated sands. The bitumen is extracted from the sands using the Clark hot-water process, in which 1 m 3 of bitumen extracted from oil sands generates 4 m 3 of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) (1-3). Over a billion cubic meters of this generated OSPW is currently stored in tailing ponds given the no-release policy for OSPW followed by the oil sands companies (4, 5). This volume of OSPW will continually increase as the oil sands bitumen extraction continues in the Athabasca region until suitable treatment technologies become available to allow for OSPW release (2). This OSPW is contaminated with a large number of inorganic and organic compounds during the extraction process that are known to be toxic to aquatic and terrestrial life (6). Thus, the production of OSPW associated with the extraction of oil sands bitumen is a great environmental issue that needs to be addressed in the near future for the remediation of the oil sands region.Fresh OSPW has acute, subchronic, and chronic toxicities to aquatic organisms, and the majority of this toxicity has been previously attributed to naphthenic acids (NAs) (2, 7). NAs are a mixture of organic surfactants containing carboxy...

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Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Characterization Of Biofilm (I) Confocal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Next-Generation Pyrosequencing Analysis of Microbial Biofilm Communities on Granular Activated Carbon in Treatment of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water

Islam

Zhang

McPhedran

et al. 2015

Appl Environ Microbiol

Self Cite

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“…These methods are effective in removal of OAs from wastewater, but are considered to be expensive, so their use is generally limited (Iranmanesh et al, 2014;Scott et al, 2008). Adsorption by activated carbon (AC) and nickel based alumina also showed promising results in removal of OAs from water, but are still expensive to implement (Azad et al, 2013;Gamal El-Din et al, 2011;Iranmanesh et al, 2014;Zubot et al, 2012). Two additional treatments materials that have received considerable recent attention are biochar (BC) and petroleum coke (PC).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The biochar pyrolysis temperature plays an important role in the stability, distribution and concentrations of surface functional groups, and thus the ability of the biochar to uptake pollutants from aqueous solution (Uchimiya et al, 2012;Vithanage et al, 2015). PC is a byproduct of the processing of oil sands, is abundantly available at mining sites, and may prove a good sorbent for OAs depending on its activation and the solution conditions (e.g., pH, water chemistry) (Gamal El-Din et al, 2011;Zubot et al, 2012). Due to its high sulfur content, PC is not generally considered useful for energy for heat generation, but may be used as an abundant and free-of-charge sorbent to treat OSPW (Zubot et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of organic acids from water using biochar and petroleum coke

Alam

Cossio

Robinson

et al. 2016

Environmental Technology & Innovation

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Adsorption of single‐ring model naphthenic acid from oil sands tailings pond water using physically activated petroleum coke

et al. 2023

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Petroleum coke‐derived activated cokes were prepared and used for the adsorptive removal of a single‐ring naphthenic acid (NA) from synthetic oil sands process affected water (OSPW). CO2 activation produced carbon with a larger mesopore volume fraction (0.67) than steam activation (0.25). Interestingly, prolonging the activation time of CO2 from 6 to 9 h led to a simultaneous increase in specific surface area (276–405 m2/g) and mesopore volume (0.51–0.67). Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic rate constant and the mesoporous volume of the activated coke. This suggests both the importance of pore size on kinetics and the fact that physical activation with a reagent such as CO2 may be better suited than chemical activation due to its ability to create mesopores. Although enlarging the pores and accelerating the adsorption rate, post‐oxidation had detrimental effects on adsorption capacity, resulting in a decrease in equilibrium adsorbed amount from 115 to 34 mg/g, a 70% decrease, when post‐oxidized with O2, due to the negative charge of oxygen‐containing functional groups. On the other hand, the measured adsorption capacity increased by over 60% when activated coke was treated with ammonia, a result of the positively charged nitrogen‐containing surface groups. Finally, in real OSPW, the activated coke had a much lower capacity for total acid‐extractable organics than for the model NA. Therefore, activated petroleum coke may not be the best choice for treating raw tailings pond water and may be better suited for polishing.

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Petroleum coke adsorption as a water management option for oil sands process-affected water

Cited by 115 publications

References 43 publications

Next-Generation Pyrosequencing Analysis of Microbial Biofilm Communities on Granular Activated Carbon in Treatment of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water

Next-Generation Pyrosequencing Analysis of Microbial Biofilm Communities on Granular Activated Carbon in Treatment of Oil Sands Process-Affected Water

Removal of organic acids from water using biochar and petroleum coke

Adsorption of single‐ring model naphthenic acid from oil sands tailings pond water using physically activated petroleum coke

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