Patent Description:
Processes for treatment of a large quantity of oily sewage can be found in the petrochemical, environmental protection, and coal chemical industries. There are many types of pollutants in wastewater, including oil, suspended solids, bacteria, dissolved organics, and trace heavy metal elements. At present, a combination of API (American Petroleum Institute) oil separation, flotation and biochemical processes is commonly applied for oily sewage treatment. A pretreatment process is used mainly for removing oil and suspended solids from the oily sewage, and it's a keypoint in the whole sewage treatment process. The quality of the pretreatment process has a direct influence on the treatment effect of the subsequent biochemical unit.

The existing oily sewage pretreatment devices have a number of problems in common. Taking an oily sewage treatment scale of <NUM><NUM>/h for an example, the API oil separation + flotation process consumes the following chemicals: 6080t PAC (polyaluminum chloride) per year, 2800t FeCl<NUM> per year, and 115t PAM (polyacrylamide) per year. So, the chemical consumption is huge, the cost is high, and it is easy to cause secondary pollution. A flotation pool needs to be aerated, and its VOCs (volatile organic compounds) emission may reach <NUM><NUM>/h. As the structure of the building is large, VOCs are prone to leakage during the operation. In addition, the flotation scum output from the flotation pool is about 500t per month. As such, a large amount of oily hazardous waste is produced.

With respect to oil and suspended solids, the main pollutants in oily sewage, the treatment methods commonly used currently include, inter alia, gravity sedimentation, centrifugal separation, adsorption, and air flotation. These treatment methods all have their own limitations and are often difficult to achieve the emission requirements when used alone. In response to the gradual upgrade of environmental protection requirements, some processes which couple various methods have been developed, and domestic and foreign researchers have done work in various aspects.

For example, US patent application <CIT> discloses a method for treating oily wastewater, wherein electrochemical flocculation and flotation are used for pretreatment, and membrane distillation is used to treat the pretreated effluent which may be used as raw water to generate steam. However, this method has the problem of large energy consumption.

Chinese patent <CIT> discloses a method for removing oil by horizontal air flotation with the use of a corrugated plate in combination and an apparatus for the same, wherein an optimized combination of a multi-layer inclined plate unit and a horizontal air flotation process is used to realize three phase separation with high efficiency, rapidity and low energy consumption, suitable for sewage treatment, crude oil exploitation and other oily wastewater treatment processes.

Chinese patent application <CIT> discloses a pretreatment process for removing oil from oil refining wastewater, wherein a combination of mechanical separation, coarsening treatment and air flotation technology is used for pretreatment to achieve oil-water separation. The invention makes use of physical and chemical coactions. The oil content in the pretreated oily wastewater is ≤<NUM>/L, which meets the national standard. However, there is still the problem of VOCs produced by air flotation.

<FIG> shows a flow chart of a traditional treatment process for oily sewage. As shown in <FIG>, the oily sewage first enters a conditioning tank <NUM> where primary separation of oil, sludge, and water is achieved. The effluent from the conditioning tank enters an oil separating pool <NUM> for further separating oil, sludge, and water. The effluent from the oil separating pool enters a flotation pool <NUM> for removing dispersed oil and suspended particles. The effluent from the flotation pool enters an A/O (anoxic/aerobic) biochemical pool <NUM> where microorganisms are used to remove organic matter in the sewage. The effluent from the biochemical pool enters a secondary sedimentation pool <NUM> for further sedimentation. The effluent from the secondary sedimentation pool enters a deep treatment device <NUM> for further treatment to obtain purified water, wherein the sludge obtained from the treatments in the conditioning tank, the oil separating pool and the flotation pool is delivered to coking device; the VOCs are delivered to a low-pressure gas system; the oil obtained from the treatments in the conditioning tank and the oil separating pool is delivered to an oil recovery system; part of the active sludge settled in the secondary sedimentation pool is returned to the biochemical pool for further treatment, and part of it is delivered to a residual sludge treatment system.

Chinese patent application <CIT> discloses a portable complete device for treating oily wastewater from washing an oil production well.

<NPL>, describes an oil adsorption method called adsorption filtration and investigates oil absorbing filter materials.

<NPL>, describe layered media prepared with varying compositions of hydrophilic micro glass fibers and hydrophobic polypropylene or polyester fibers.

Chinese patent application <CIT> discloses an advanced treatment process of sludge containing oil, belonging to the field of environment and resource utilization.

As the existing oily sewage treatment processes are concerned, research on methods for reducing oil content is being deepened uninterruptedly. However, an air flotation process is inevitably used in the treatment. The air flotation process can effectively remove dispersed oil and suspended particles, but addition of chemicals is necessary for removing emulsified oil. In addition, the air flotation process often has such problems as a large amount of flotation scum, and volatilization and leakage of VOCs.

Therefore, there is an urgent need in the art to develop a method and an apparatus that can reduce the emission of VOCs and the quantity of oily sludge in a short process, and overcome the above-mentioned defects of the air flotation process in the prior art.

The present disclosure provides a novel method and a novel apparatus for pretreatment of oily sewage without air flotation, thereby solving the problems existing in the prior art.

In the first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for pretreatment of oily sewage obtained from a petrochemical refining process without air flotation for removing oil and suspended solids from the oily sewage, comprising the following steps:.

wherein the shape coalescence separation is achieved by a shape coalescer comprising a modular internal part comprising hydrophilic-oleophobic fibers and oleophilic-hydrophobic fibers weaved in an X and/or Ω pattern.

In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises: (e) deep treatment: further treating the effluent obtained by the biochemical treatment in Step (d); and (f) hydrocyclone-intensified filter backwash: backwashing the hydrocyclone-intensified filter at a frequency of not more than one time per week.

In another preferred embodiment, when suspended matter in the oily sewage has a concentration of <NUM>/L or less, the suspended matter in the oily sewage is removed in Steps (a) and (b), so that the concentration of the suspended matter in the effluent is reduced to <NUM>/L or less.

In another preferred embodiment, when petroleum matter in the oily sewage has a concentration of <NUM>/L or less, deoiling is effected in Steps (b) and (c), so that the concentration of the petroleum matter is reduced to <NUM>/L or less; wherein a retention time of the oily sewage in Steps (b) and (c) does not exceed <NUM> minutes in total.

The present disclosure provides an oily sewage pretreatment apparatus that exempts air flotation for use in the method of the first aspect, wherein the apparatus comprises:.

In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a deep treatment device connected to the AOH biochemical pool for further deep treatment of the effluent obtained by the biochemical treatment.

In another preferred embodiment, a filter material having a particle size of <NUM>-<NUM> is used for a bed packing of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter; one or more hydrocyclone separators are provided on top of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter; and, in the backwash process of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter, the rotation of the particles in the hydrocyclone separators is utilized to intensified the filter material regeneration.

The shape coalescer comprises a modular internal part comprising hydrophilic-oleophobic fibers and oleophilic-hydrophobic fibers weaved in an X and/or Ω pattern. In a preferred embodiment, the shape coalescer comprises an oil pocket for oil collection, wherein the oil pocket is controlled automatically to discharge oil at intervals.

In another preferred embodiment, the integrated unit of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter and the shape coalescer connected in series has a pressure drop of <NUM> MPa or less, and a footprint that is reduced by about <NUM>% as compared with a traditional API oil separation + flotation process.

The main advantages of the method and apparatus of the invention include:
The invention adopts a process combining sedimentation separation, hydrocyclone-intensified filter and shape coalescence separation to realize removal of oil and suspended solids from oily sewage, and an air flotation unit is exempted. This process effects no addition of chemicals, no air blowing, and no generation of flotation scum, and has the advantages of low cost, simple process, high separation efficiency, etc..

The accompanying drawings are provided for further understanding of the disclosure. They constitute a part of the specification only for further explanation of the disclosure without limiting the disclosure.

After extensive and intensive research, the inventors of the present application have discovered that for a mixed system comprising solid phase, water phase, and oil phase, such as oily sewage which entails a large operating flux, the pretreatment methods that are commonly used are processes combining homogenization, API oil separation, and flotation, but these conventional processes have such problems as high complexity in process flow and low flexibility in operation. Therefore, a pretreatment process combining sedimentation separation, hydrocyclone-intensified filter and shape coalescence separation has been invented to remove oil and suspended solids from oily sewage, wherein the sedimentation separation can achieve primary separation of oil, sludge, and water; the hydrocyclone-intensified filter can achieve deep filtration and intensified regeneration of the filter material; the shape coalescer can achieve demulsification, coalescence and separation of emulsified oil; and the effluent from the coalescer enters a biochemical pool directly, wherein an air flotation unit is exempted. Based on the above findings, the present invention has been completed.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for pretreatment of oily sewage obtained from a petrochemical refining process without air flotation for removing oil and suspended solids from the oily sewage, comprising the following steps:.

In the present disclosure, the method further comprises: (e) deep treatment: further treating the effluent obtained by the biochemical treatment in Step (d) using an AOH biochemical pool.

In the present disclosure, the method further comprises: (f) backwash: backwashing the hydrocyclone-intensified filter at a frequency of not more than one time per week.

In the present disclosure, when suspended matter in the oily sewage has a concentration of <NUM>/L or less, the suspended matter in the oily sewage can be removed effectively in Steps (a) and (b), so that the concentration of the suspended matter in the effluent is reduced to <NUM>/L or less.

In the present disclosure, when petroleum matter in the oily sewage has a concentration of <NUM>/L or less, deoiling is effected in Steps (b) and (c), so that the concentration of the petroleum matter is reduced to <NUM>/L or less.

In the present disclosure, a retention time of the oily sewage in Steps (b) and (c) does not exceed <NUM> minutes in total.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an oily sewage pretreatment apparatus that exempts air flotation for use in the method described in the first aspect, wherein the apparatus comprises:.

In the present disclosure, the apparatus further comprises a deep treatment device connected to the AOH biochemical pool for further treatment of the effluent obtained by the biochemical treatment.

In the present disclosure, a filter material having a particle size of <NUM>-<NUM> is used for a bed packing of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter.

In the present disclosure, one or more hydrocyclone separators are provided on top of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter, and in the backwash process of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter, the rotation and revolution of the particles in the hydrocyclone separators are utilized to intensified the filter material regeneration.

In the present disclosure, the shape coalescer comprises a modular internal part comprising hydrophilic-oleophobic fibers and oleophilic-hydrophobic fibers weaved in an X and/or Ω pattern.

In the present disclosure, the shape coalescer comprises an oil pocket for oil collection, wherein the oil pocket is controlled automatically to discharge oil at intervals.

In the present disclosure, the integrated unit of the hydrocyclone-intensified filtration separator and the shape coalescer connected in series has a pressure drop of <NUM> MPa or less, and a footprint that is reduced by about <NUM>% as compared with a traditional API oil separation + flotation process.

Reference will be now made to the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of an oily sewage treatment process according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, oily sewage first enters a conditioning tank <NUM> in which primary separation of oil, sludge and water is achieved. The effluent from the conditioning tank enters a hydrocyclone-intensified filter <NUM> for removing dispersed oil, sludge, sand and the like in the oily sewage. The resulting oily sewage enters a shape coalescer <NUM> for further treatment to achieve the demulsification, coalescence and separation of emulsified oil (water-in-oil and oil-in-water). The treated wastewater enters the AOH biochemical pool <NUM> together with air for removing organic matter in the wastewater. The effluent from the AOH biochemical pool enters a deep treatment device <NUM> for further treatment to obtain purified water. After a period of operation, the backwash of hydrocyclone-intensified filter is necessary. The oily sludge obtained by the treatment in the conditioning tank is delivered to coking device; the VOCs are delivered to a low-pressure gas system; and the oil is delivered to an oil recovery system. One or more hydrocyclone separators <NUM> are installed on the top of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter, wherein the rotation and revolution of the particles in the hydrocyclone are utilized to achieve intensified regeneration of the filter material during the backwash process of the hydrocyclone-intensified filter. The overflow of the hydrocyclone separators is returned to the conditioning tank for further treatment. The shape coalescer achieves oil-water separation with the use of an oil removal module. The oil is collected in an oil bag <NUM>, and the separated oil is delivered to the oil recovery system. The effluent from the coalescer is further treated in the AOH biochemical pool with the use of activated sludge. Part of the activated sludge settled in the secondary sedimentation pool is returned to the biochemical pool for recycling, and part of it is delivered to a residual sludge treatment system.

The invention will be further illustrated with reference to the following specific Examples. It is nevertheless to be appreciated that these Examples are only intended to exemplify the invention without limiting the scope of the invention. The test methods in the following examples for which no specific conditions are indicated will be carried out generally under conventional conditions or under those conditions suggested by the manufacturers. Unless otherwise specified, all parts are parts by weight, and all percentages are percentages by weight.

This Example was applied to an oily sewage pretreatment system in the oil refining area of a petrochemical refinery. The previous pretreatment process used by the sewage treatment plant in this base was a combination of homogenization + API oil separation + flotation. The process flow was relatively long, and the arrangement of the corresponding covered buildings had a risk of untight sealing. The water quality conditions of the oily sewage used in this Example are shown in Table <NUM>, and the treatment process flow is shown in <FIG>.

The key devices in this process flow were a hydrocyclone-intensified filter and a shape coalescer. In practical applications, different numbers of devices can be connected in parallel according to different processing capacities. The key process devices are shell-type devices which are convenient for transportation and installation. In this Example, a hydrocyclone-intensified filter was coupled with a shape coalescer to treat petrochemical oily sewage.

The water quality conditions of the oily sewage are shown in Table <NUM> below:.

The pretreatment system was used to conduct continuous experiments on the incoming water. The experimental working conditions included conventional working conditions (oil content being less than <NUM>/L) and shock working conditions (oil content being greater than <NUM>/L), and the oil contents in the influent and the effluent were measured. The measurement results are shown in Table <NUM> and Table <NUM> below.

As can be seen from the analysis of the water quality of the influent and effluent, the pretreatment system can effectively cope with the shock working conditions of oily sewage. Under the shock working conditions, more than <NUM>% of the oil in the sewage can be recovered, while the volatilization of VOCs is effectively controlled, so that the volatilization of VOCs is reduced from the source. As shown by the experimental results, by sealing the pretreatment process, the leakage and diffusion of at least <NUM>% of the hydrocarbons in the oily sewage in a traditional pretreatment unit are avoided; instead, the hydrocarbons are classified and collected concentratedly. In addition, in this Example, the hydrocyclone-intensified filter can effectively intercept suspended matter which is enriched and recovered by a regeneration process. It's expected that the total amount of sediment can be reduced by <NUM>%, and the process for enrichment and recovery of the sediment also realizes cyclic closed treatment.

Claim 1:
A method for pretreatment of oily sewage obtained from a petrochemical refining process for removing oil and suspended solids from the oily sewage, comprising the following steps without air flotation:
(a) Sedimentation separation: subjecting oily sewage to sedimentation separation to achieve primary separation of oil, sludge, and water to provide an oily sewage effluent;
(b) Hydrocyclone-intensified filtration: subjecting the oily sewage effluent obtained by the primary separation in Step (a) to hydrocyclone-intensified filtration to further remove dispersed oil, sludge and sand from the oily sewage to provide an oily sewage effluent;
(c) Shape coalescence separation: subjecting the oily sewage effluent obtained by hydrocyclone-intensified filtration in Step (b) to shape coalescence separation to achieve the demulsification, coalescence and separation of emulsified oil to provide treated wastewater; and
(d) Biochemical treatment: delivering the treated wastewater obtained in Step (c) directly to an anoxic/aerobic/hydrocyclone (AOH) biochemical system, wherein an air flotation unit is exempted
wherein the shape coalescence separation is achieved by a shape coalescer comprising a modular internal part comprising hydrophilic-oleophobic fibers and oleophilic-hydrophobic fibers weaved in an X and/or Ω pattern.