Treatment of wastewater from shipboard petroleum waste and derivatives reception plant

The purpose of this study is a detailed characterization of wastewater (bilge water) from shipboard petroleum waste and derivatives reception plant was performed and the treatability of wastewater by membrane processes and applicability of treatment method were investigated. In the first part of the study, characterization studies with 31 parameters were performed on 29 raw bilge water samples, provided between 2010 and 2015 from ISTAC A.S. Haydarpasa Waste Reception Plant. Particle size distribution analyses were also performed in 7 different samples. According the results of characterization studies, average SS concentration was 257 mg/L (13-936 mg/L); average oil & grease concentration was 147 mg/L (7-736 mg/L); and average COD concentration was 1,086 mg/L (240-2,783 mg/L). Similar tendencies in other parameters was also observed and concentrations were varied in a wide range. Wastewater flowrate, temperature, crossflow velocity, and feeding volume were constant as 4.17 L/min, 20oC, 2.19 m/s, and 10 L during optimization and applicability studies. In studies, 1 MF (MP005P), 2 UF (UP150P and UP020P), and 2 NF (NP010P and NP030P) PES flatsheet membranes with different pore sizes were used. In the second part of the study, optimization studies were performed with two different membrane configurations (coarse filtration+UF+NF and MF+NF) using S1 bilge water. Membrane type, optimal pressure and VRF value were determined for each configuration while considering flux, flux loss, membrane fouling, recovery, process time and effluent quality. According to the results, UP150P membrane, 2 bars pressure and VRF 5 value for UF membrane; NP010P membrane, 16 bars pressure and VRF 5 value for NF membrane were determined as optimal conditions for coarse filtration+UF+NF configuration. MP005P membrane, 2 bars pressure and VRF 5 value for MF membrane; NP010P membrane, 16 bars pressure and VRF 5 value for NF membrane were determined as optimal conditions for the MF+NF configuration. In the third part of the study, optimum conditions determined during the treatment of S1 bilge water were used to treat S2 bilge water and treatibility of bilge water by membrane processes were determined in the consideration of flux, surface fouling, effluent quality, fouling type and fouling magnitude, AFM images, SEM-EDS and particle size distribution analyses. The results of all treatment steps showed that average removal efficiency of SS was 93.0%. Oil & grease and COD were below 10 mg/L and 80 mg/L at the end of all treatment steps, respectively. Magnesium, aluminum, vanadium, iron, copper, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, and silicon elements were found on the surfaces of polluted membranes of each treatment step by elemental analyses. Even though no big differences were observed in effluent quality, coarse filtration afterwards UF+NF membrane treatment configuration shortened process time, increased flux, decreased flux loss and decreased pollution deposition on membrane surface. As a conclusion, coarse membrane+UF+NF membrane treatment configuration is a viable, efficient and applicable membrane treatment method to treat wastewater from shipboard petroleum waste and derivatives. It is also concluded that it is possible to achieve better recovery in the parameters as flux, flux loss, membrane fouling and process time by using smaller pore sized coarse membranes and/or different pre-treatment methods to eliminate emulsified oil.