Estimation of pollutant emissions from the wastewater treatment plant of an Oil Refining Company by TOXCHEM software

Subject Areas : Air Pollution

elham mahmoudi ¹ , Naeimeh Jodeiri Naghashkar ² , morteza rezaee ³ , Esmaeil Fatehifar ⁴

1 - Environmental Engineering Research Center, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.
2 - Assistant professor, Environmental Engineering Research Center, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran. *(Corresponding Author)
3 - Tabriz Oil Refining Company, Tabriz, Iran.
4 - Professor, Environmental Engineering Research Center, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.

Received: 2019-09-03 Accepted : 2021-11-07 Published : 2023-01-21

Keywords: air pollutants, emission estimation, Refinery, TOXCHEM,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: Estimation of emissions from wastewater treatment plant of an oil refinery is one of the issues that need to be addressed. Air pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia are among the most dangerous chemicals that affect personnel health and create environmental issues in industrial facilities because of their carcinogenic and toxic characteristics. The aim of this study is to estimate the amount of emission of air pollutants to the environment. Material and Methodology: In this study, TOXCHEM software was used to estimate the emission rates from wastewater treatment plant of an oil refining company and these results were compared with the available real data from the company. Findings: Results showed that this software is able to estimate the emission rates with high accuracy. According to simulation results, about 45,000 grams of hydrogen sulfide per day from biological treatment section and more than 50,000 grams of ammonia per day from chemical treatment section are emitted into the atmosphere. Due to the limited capacity of wastewater treatment unit in reducing the harmful emissions, it was concluded that the refining processes need to be improved in order to reduce the amount of air pollutants in the wastewater sent to treatment unit. Also simulation showed that since the biological treatment section plays major role in treatment process, the control of microorganisms is required in this unit. Discussion and Conclusion: Due to high surface area of wastewater treatment unit lagoons, aeration, wind direction and turbulence, high emission rates are observed and these emissions need to be controlled.

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