Treatment Strategies and Technical Applications for Coking Sour Wastewater
In the processing of high-sulfur crude oil, refineries generate a type of sour wastewater rich in sulfides, ammonia nitrogen, phenols, cyanides, oils and other pollutants. Due to its complex composition and high hazard, this wastewater cannot enter conventional wastewater treatment systems directly, and its proper treatment is of great significance for ecological protection and sustainable production. This article describes the source characteristics of such wastewater, the main difficulties in its treatment, the commonly used disposal methods, and the future technology development path.
Several challenges exist in treating this type of wastewater. Steam stripping, currently the mainstream process, suffers from relatively high energy consumption and low energy utilization, and the secondary steam it produces requires further purification. In addition, toxic gases released from the wastewater, such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, must be precisely controlled and effectively treated to safeguard the health and safety of operators.
To address these challenges, SINOKLE Technology has launched an innovative coking sour wastewater treatment process, with the specific flow shown in the diagram below:
Coking sour wastewater treatment process flow diagram
Compared with conventional methods, this process offers the following significant advantages:
Adopts an all-physical separation principle, with stable operation and excellent oil removal performance;
No chemical dosing required; oil-water separation is achieved through physical demulsification, and the recovered high-quality light dirty oil can be directly reused. The whole process creates no secondary pollution and produces no oily sludge (hazardous waste), solving environmental problems while creating economic value;
Reliable process flow, compact equipment design and small footprint;
Modular skid-mounted design with high automation, simple operation and maintenance, short construction period, and support for online retrofitting and implementation;
Strong resistance to shock loads and stable operation, able to adapt to large fluctuations in influent quality.
The core equipment of this process CDFU (Cyclonic Dissolved Air Flotation unit) and the KHC coalescing oil remover are both independently developed by SINOKLE Technology, delivering better performance than conventional mechanical equipment.
CDFU: Cyclonic dissolved air flotation is a new generation of green, highly efficient vertical-tank flotation equipment we have developed. Integrating cyclonic centrifugal separation, ultra-fine bubble generation and dissolved air flotation technologies, it achieves efficient, rapid separation of dirty oil, emulsified oil and suspended solids from wastewater through the organic combination of multiple technologies.
KHC coalescing oil remover: By using super-oleophilic hydrophobic coalescing fiber materials and an internal structural design, it integrates cyclonic centrifugal separation, wetting coalescence, collision coalescence and interception filtration to achieve efficient coalescence, separation and removal of emulsified oil in wastewater.
On-site view of a petrochemical company's coking sour wastewater treatment unit
Application case
Treatment performance for emulsified sour wastewater
Project overview:
Influent oil content: <= 150,000 ppm
Treatment capacity: 15 m3/h
Main equipment: CDFU + KHC high-efficiency coalescing oil remover
Effluent oil content: <= 100 ppm
