Land Treatment of Synfuel Organic Sludges
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 109, Issue 5
Abstract
One problem in the development of a large‐scale synthetic fuels industry is solid waste and disposal‐related environmental problems. Three synfuel wastewater sludges (SRC‐I, SRC‐II, and H‐Coal) and one petroleum refinery API separator sludge were chemically characterized and subjected to laboratory‐scale land application experiments. Leachate, recognized as a primary contaminant transport vector, was generated for study, and biodegradation (carbon dioxide evolution) of the organic component of sludge‐soil mixtures was measured and modeled for a 245‐day study period. Results indicate that the elemental composition varies considerably between wastes, with carbon being the dominant element ranging from 26% to 61% in the SRC‐I and H‐Coal samples, respectively. The petroleum refinery API sludge exhibited the most rapid degradation requiring only 96 days to reach 90% of the estimated maximum carbon dioxide production for that particular waste. The H‐Coal material was found to be the most biodegradable, with approximately 100 mg of carbon evolved per gram of sludge. In contrast, the SRC‐I sludge was more stable toward biodegradation, yielding only 3 mg of carbon per gram of sludge throughout the study period. With proper design, which includes runoff collection and treatment, land treatment is seen as an effective method of handling the relatively small volume organic‐laden synfuel wastewater sludges.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 109 • Issue 5 • October 1983
Pages: 1068 - 1081
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 ASCE.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1983
Published in print: Oct 1983
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