Decomposition of oil cleaning agents from nuclear power plants by supercritical water oxidation

Oil cleaning agents generated from nuclear power plants(NPPs)are radioactive organic liquid wastes.To date,because there are no satisfactory industrial treatment measures,these wastes can only be stored for a long time.In this work,the optimization for the supercritical water oxidation(SCWO)of the spent organic solvent was investigated.The main process parameters of DURSET(oil cleaning agent)SCWO,such as temperature,reaction time,and excess oxygen coefficient,were optimized using response surface methodology,and a quadratic polynomial model was obtained.The determination coefficient(R^(2))of the model is 0.9812,indicating that the model is reliable.The optimized process conditions were at 515 C,66 s,and an excess oxygen coefficient of 211%.Under these conditions,the chemical oxygen demand removal of organic matter could reach 99.5%.The temperature was found to be the main factor affecting the SCWO process.Ketones and benzene-based compounds may be the main intermediates in DURSET SCWO.This work provides basic data for the industrialization of the degradation of spent organic solvents from NPP using SCWO technology.

Sludge Pollution Control from Crude Oil Tank Cleaning

This study investigated the use of microbial analysis as a bioremediation option for remediating petroleum sludge, which is part of the waste stream generated in the petroleum industry. The aim is to reduce environmental burden caused by the discharge of untreated sludge. Sludge sample was cultured in other to isolate microorganisms for the sludge treatment. The selected strain of the organisms after screening were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Verticillus sp, Penicillum sp, and Microsporium audouinii. Bioreactors (labeled A, B, C, D and O) were designed for the treatment of petroleum sludge. These reactors contain 2.0 × 10-2 m3 of the diluted sludge samples and the isolated organisms for the treatment process. On a weekly basis, the control reactors received 1.5 × 10-3 m3 of fresh and saline water respectively. After 12 weeks of treatment, sludge physicochemical characteristics showed distinct variations. From the result, reactor D was the best in terms of remediating the sludge as compared to other reactors. Friedman non-parametric test was performed to check if the weeks of treatment affected the reduction of the total hydrocarbon content (THC) in the five reactors and also checked for significant differences in the THC after treatments. The drop in the THC of the treated sludge ranged from 56.0% to 67.3%. These results showed the possibility of enhanced biodegradation of petroleum sludge by hydrocarbon utilizing microorganisms (fungi).

SURFACE MODIFICATION AND DISPERSION OF NANODIAMOND IN CLEAN OIL

The effect of different kinds of surfactants on the size distribution of nanodiamond particles in clean oil was studied. Results show that the dispersing stability of nanodiamond modified with surfactants YS-1 and SB-18 simulta-neously is much better than those modified with either of them because of synergism of the surfactants. And the particle size distribution in the system can be improved remarkably after the adoption of hyperdispersants such as SA-E and SA-F. Anchoring groups of those hyperdispersants can be bonded with the particle surface by chemical and/or hydrogen bonding and their soluble chains are well compatible with the dispersion media. As a result, the particles are uniformly distributed in the system owing to the steric stabilization. A very stable clean-oil based nanodiamond suspension with an average particle size of around 53.2 nm was prepared.