Simulation for the Performance and Economic Evaluation of Conventional Activated Sludge Process Replacing by Sequencing Batch Reactor Technology in a Petroleum Refinery Wastewater Treatment Plant

Abstract

Treatment of the petroleum refinery wastewater containing complex chemicals using biological processes is usually challenging because of the inhibition and/or toxicity of these matters when they serve as microbial substrates. In addition, performance modeling and cost evaluation of processes are essential for designing, construction, and forecasting future economic requirements of the petroleum refinery wastewater treatment plants (PRWWTPs). In this study, the performance and economics of conventional activated sludge (CAS) process replacing by sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technology in a two train PRWWTP were evaluated using simulation. The final treated effluent characteristics for the PRWWTPs containing CAS + CAS and SBR + CAS processes under steady state conditions were studied and evolution of the main parameters of the final effluent during the 30 days of simulation for these plants were investigated. Finally, the total project construction, operation labor, maintenance, material, chemical, energy, and amortization costs of these plants were estimated and compared. Results demonstrated that the project construction cost of PRWWTP containing CAS + CAS processes was lower than that of PRWWTP containing SBR + CAS processes and the energy and amortization costs for both plants were higher in comparison with the operation, maintenance, material, and chemical costs. Note that this study is a computer simulation and drawing general conclusions only on the basis of computer simulation may be insufficient.

Dynamic Modelling, Process Control, and Monitoring of Selected Biological and Advanced Oxidation Processes for Wastewater Treatment: A Review of Recent Developments

“…Notably, higher nitrogen removal was ascertained for CAS unless the HRT and the number of cycles per day for SBRs were increased [51]. In terms of cost estimation, a simulation study comparing the implementation of two CAS units in parallel against one CAS unit and one SBR in parallel for a petroleum refinery wastewater treatment plant (PRWWTP) revealed lower expenditures in project construction, operation, energy, and amortization costs for the former scenario [52]. The anticipated costs for materials, chemicals, and maintenance remained consistent between the two configurations.…”

A Review on the Nanofiltration Process for Treating Wastewaters from the Petroleum Industry

“…The exploration and production of petroleum, processing of hydrocarbons in refineries and petrochemical plants, and even other activities like storage, transportation, and distribution of petroleum products [2,4,5], can generate aqueous waste streams containing oil and various contaminants that require treatment/purification before release/reuse. If not suitably treated, the oily wastewater streams not only contaminates the environment and endangers water resources and human health but also decreases the reuse capability of oil and water [2,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…In the petroleum industry, a range of wastewater treatment technologies, including primary treatment processes such as physical and physicochemical processes; secondary treatment processes such as suspended and/or attach growth biological processes; and tertiary treatment processes such as sand filtration, membrane processes, ion exchange, chemical oxidation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), etc., have been utilized to treat wastewater streams [2,[11][12][13][14][21][22][23][24]. There is an increasing interest in designing the new energy-efficient, cost-effective, reliable, resilient, and sustainable wastewater treatment systems [25].…”

Economic Analysis: Trickling Filter/Activated Sludge or Nitrifying Trickling Filter/Activated Sludge?

“…In recent years, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been modeled and simulated because of the need to assess different solutions prior to their effective realization [4,[19][20][21][22][23]. In addition to technical, engineering and process related aspects of WWTPs, cost is an important consideration for the development and assessment of treatment alternatives, and can affect the economic feasibility of these alternatives.…”