Petroleum Produced Water; Characterization and Adsorption Properties on Coconut Shell Carbon

Abstract

In the course of most activities in the petroleum industry, enormous amounts of polluted wastewater of various types are produced and discharged. Produced water is the name commonly given to water discharged as a result of oil production. It is known to contain organic compounds derived from crude oil, inorganic compounds and many metals that are toxic to the environment.

Most of the available treatment technologies for removal of these toxic components from produced water effluent are capital intensive and require long term investments for effective operation; hence innovative approaches and new methodologies for protecting water resources from pollution are necessary.

The application of adsorption techniques for the removal of organic, inorganic and metallic contaminants from wastewater has been well established.

Activated carbon is universally used for treatment of industrial effluents by adsorption. However, the exorbitant cost of its preparation and regeneration has led to a search for alternative sorbents especially in the developing countries.

This paper examines the characteristics of produced water from some Nigerian oil fields and the use of Coconut Shell Carbon (CSC) as an alternative low cost sorbent derived from organic waste material for the removal of toxic contaminants from produced water.

The results of the batch adsorption studies have indicated the efficiency of contaminant removal by CSC, which was comparable to that of commercially available activated carbon.

The optimum sorptive capacity (Sc) of CSC for organic, inorganic and metallic contaminant removal was found to be 45.7 mg/g. 20.9mglg and 13.8 mg/g respectively (Table 60).

Subsequent recovery of the removed contaminant from the surface of the sorbent was also attempted.