Pilot MBR to treat refinery wastewater

The Petroleum Environmental Research Forum (PERF) has selected Siemens Water Technologies to provide a Petro membrane bioreactor (MBR) pilot unit to test the viability of the technology in treating refinery wastewater.

This will be one of the first operational full-scale MBR processes for treating refinery wastewater in the world.

The results of this pilot testing will be used to determine the effectiveness and robustness of MBR treatment compared with conventional biological treatment on this type of wastewater. The commercially-sized pilot unit will run for 6-9 months at a PERF site in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.

Specifically designed to meet the goals of petroleum and chemical industry operators with flexibility and ease of operation, the Petro MBR system combines an activated sludge biological treatment process with an innovative membrane filtration system. A novel fluid renewal process evenly distributes liquid, solids and air within the membrane modules in the system.

The system is ideally suited to a wide range of refinery, petrochemical and production water treatment applications including water reuse, upgrades, retrofits and compliance-driven projects.

PERF (www.perf.org) was established in 1986 to stimulate cooperative research and development of technology for environmental pollution control and waste treatment for the petroleum industry. Members include: Amerada Hess Corporation, Aramco Services Co., BOC, BP, Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI), Chevron Research & Technology Company, ConocoPhillips, EniTecnologie, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil Company, Petro-Canada, Petrobras, Questor, Repsol YPF, Shell, Statoil, Total and Veolia Water.