INTRODUCTION

Water management system in a petroleum refinery can largely account for the reduction in
volume and cost of raw water in refinery operations. Although effective wastewater treatment
system plays a vital role in assuring public health, enforcement of new regulations and
advanced treatment increase the use of electricity for waste water treatment. The technologies
that are in use for the treatment of wastewater in refineries is generally site-specific and is
mainly dependent on the conditions of the influent and the level of treatment required.
However, a typical refinery wastewater treatment plant includes primary and secondary
oil/water separation, followed by biological treatment and tertiary treatment depending upon
the necessity.

Due to the norms regarding the discharge of refinery-produced water into the environment
becoming more limiting and strict, the reuse of treated water has become a necessity. As such,
this project aims to analyse the environmental impact of the waste water from oil
refineries/petrochemical sectors by carrying out a life cycle analysis of the waste water
treatment plant for which the objectives have been listed below.

OBJECTIVES

(1) Identifying the sources of waste water in the refinery that act as input to the Effluent
treatment plant and quantifying them by obtaining data for streams and pollutants
(2) Carrying out a cradle to grave life cycle analysis of the waste water treatment plant

LITERATURE REVIEW

 Diya’uddeen et al. 2011[1] studied the different technologies in place for the treatment
of petroleum refinery effluents. They presented an overview of the photolytic
degradation process for refinery waste water treatment emphasizing on the viability of
the process and its technical importance.
 Li et al. 2016[2] in their work focused on calculation of energy use intensity, water loss,
greenhouse gas emissions and biogas generation potential from refinery wastewater
treatment using the GREET(The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy
use in Transportation) model in order to carry out the life cycle analysis for taking
account of the impacts associated with cradle-to-grave stages of wastewater processes.

1
WORKPLAN

Interpretation and documentation

Inventory analysis and Impact assessment

Literature survey

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Number of months

Fig 1. Workplan for the entire project work in 3 months span

REFERENCES

1. Diya’uddeen, B.H., Daud, W.M.A.W. and Aziz, A.A., 2011. Treatment technologies
for petroleum refinery effluents: A review. Process safety and environmental
protection, 89(2), pp.95-105.
2. Qianfeng Li, Jeongwoo Han, Amgad, A.E., 2016. Industrial Wastewater Treatment in
GREET Model: Energy Intensity, Water Loss, Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Biogas Generation Potential, pp.5-10
3. Piemonte, V, 2017. Life Cycle Assessment(LCA). Retrieved from http://www.oil-
gasportal.com/life-cycle-assessment-lca/
4. Petroleum refining water/wastewater use and management. IPIECA Operations Best
Practice Series 2010, pp.8-41