The Cost Benefit of Refinery Effluent Pretreatment Upstream of Membrane Bioreactors.

The established classical method of treating oil refinery effluent is flotation followed by biological treatment. Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) offer more advanced treatment, producing a clarified and potentially reusable treated effluent, but demand robust pretreatment to remove oil and grease (O&G) down to consistent, reliably low levels. An analysis of a full-scale conventional oil refinery ETP (effluent treatment plant) based on flotation alone, coupled with projected performance, energy consumption and costs associated with a downstream MBR, have demonstrated satisfactory performance of flotation-based pretreatment.

A Brief Review of the Status of Low-Pressure Membrane Technology Implementation for Petroleum Industry Effluent Treatment.

Low-pressure membrane technology (ultrafiltration and microfiltration) has been applied to two key effluents generated by the petroleum industry: produced water (PW) from oil exploration, a significant proportion being generated offshore, and onshore refinery/petrochemical effluent. PW is treated physicochemically to remove the oil prior to discharge, whereas the onshore effluents are often treated biologically to remove both the suspended and dissolved organic fractions. This review examines the efficacy and extent of implementation of membrane technology for these two distinct applications, focusing on data and information pertaining to the treatment of real effluents at large/full scale.