Hydrothermal carbonization for crude oil tank bottom sludge treatment and energy recovery

Abstract

Crude Oil Tank Bottom Sludge (COTBS) generated due to storage newlineof oily sludge is classified as a hazardous waste due to the presence of heavy newlinemetals, persistent organic pollutants and petroleum hydrocarbons. It is toxic, newlinecarcinogenic and mutagenic to the environment as well. Oily sludge can be newlineconsidered as a resource due to the presence of hydrocarbons, which can be newlinerecuperated as energy, fuel or other chemical products. The conventional newlinemethods of oily sludge treatment are inefficient and costly due to high newlineinvestment costs, costly chemical reagents, complex equipment, secondary newlinepollution generated and high energy consumption. The management of newlineCOTBS could be made cost-efficient and environmentally sound by newlinedeveloping a technology to detoxify the sludge and convert it to energy. newlineHydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) is gaining importance in newlineconverting a wide range of organic waste biomass into solid fuel with newlineenhanced energy yields and physicochemical properties. HTC is an newlineexothermic, thermochemical process in which the chemical and physical newlinetransformation of biomass occurs at temperatures between 150 °C and 250 °C newlineand pressures between 2 MPa and 10 MPa. Hydrolysis, dehydration, newlinedecarboxylation, polymerization, condensation and aromatization occur newlinesimultaneously as a part of HTC mechanism. newlineThe objectives of this research was to determine the potential of newlineHTC for treating oily sludge and to refine hydrochar as an alternative solid newlinefuel. newline