Development of photolysis enhanced oxidation technologies for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from offshore produced water

Ping, Jing (2016) Development of photolysis enhanced oxidation technologies for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from offshore produced water. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[img] [English] PDF - Accepted Version
Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.

Download (6MB)

Abstract

Offshore Produced Water (OPW) represents the largest volume waste stream from offshore oil and gas (OOG) production activities. It poses major environmental and operational challenges to offshore petroleum industries for requiring more efficient and environmental friendly on-site management. This is true particularly under growing regulatory and economic pressure to reduce the impact of waste discharges. Conventional on-site OPW monitoring and treatment is mainly focused on the oil and grease portion for meeting the regulatory standards, while limited efforts have been given to dissolved compounds especially including Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are proved as one of the most significant contributors to the ecological hazard posed by OPW discharges because of their toxicity, persistency, and potential for bioaccumulation even at a trace level. As a result, effective measurement of PAHs in OPW is imperative, and advanced on-site treatment of the effluent is desired to improve the conventional systems. This dissertation research focused on the development of new analytical testing methods and photolysis and its enhanced oxidation technologies for treating PAHs in OPW. They are composed of the key tasks including: a) refining of solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) pretreatment systems to extract PAHs from OPW; b) enhancement of gas chromotography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analytical methods for background and residual PAHs analysis; c) design and fabrication of photochemical oxidation reactors for batch- and bench-scale experiments; d) systematic one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) analysis of key parameters and factors in the course of direct photolysis and photocatalysis; e) investigation of efficacy, parameters/factors interactions, kinetics and mechanisms of the enhanced hybrid oxidation systems by integrating photolysis and ozonation (O₃) and/or hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂); and f) development of central composite design (CCD) based response surface modeling (RSM) models for process simulation and optimization. The major contribution of this research is the development of compact, efficient, and eco-friendly technologies for on-site OPW testing and treatment. The developed technologies are proved technically sound by lab experiments with high efficiency in detection and removal of PAHs. The research outcomes bring significant environmental, economic and social benefits to industry, government and academia by providing not only effective but also environmentally benign methods for treating OPW generated from OOG production.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral (PhD))
URI: http://research.library.mun.ca/id/eprint/12378
Item ID: 12378
Additional Information: Include bibliographical references.
Keywords: Offshore produced water, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Advanced oxidation, Direct photolysis, UV/TiO2/O3, UV/T2O2/H2O2, Gas chromotography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Solid phase extraction (SPE), Liquid phase micro extraction (LPME), One-factor-at-a-time (OFAT), Central composite design (CCD), Response surface modelling (RSM)
Department(s): Engineering and Applied Science, Faculty of
Date: October 2016
Date Type: Submission
Library of Congress Subject Heading: Oil field brines--Testing; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--Purification; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--Oxidation; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons--Analysis

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over the past year

View more statistics