Treatment of Refinery Waste by Physicochemical Processes

Treatment of a refinery waste was attempted by physicochemical processes to evaluate the feasibility of yielding high quality, reusable effluents. The combined use of iron coagulation at a dosage of 250 mg per l as FeCl₃ · 6H₂O and 3-ft carbon column adsorption (either operated as fixed-bed or expanded-bed adsorber) was able to produce effluents of exceptionally high water quality having TOC of less than 3 mg per l and turbidity of less than 1 JTU. However, small quantities of organic leakage were observed consistently in all adsorber effluents. The nature of these nonadsorbable organic materials was not established. Orthophosphate removal was effected by chemical coagulation while nitrogen (ammonia and organic nitrogen) was not. Carbon adsorbers were not able to remove any of the above inorganic nutrients.