AM-15-19 Biological Wastewater Treatment for Hydrocarbon Removal

Description:

Hydrocarbons are a common group of contaminants found in wastewater generated by fuel and petrochemical manufacturing. Regulations and water quality standards associated with discharging or reusing wastewater from fuel and petrochemical manufacturing facilities are becoming more stringent, creating a need to remove these contaminants prior to discharge or reuse within a processing facility. UOP’s immobilized cell bioreactor (XCeed™ bioreactor) technology is an advanced biofilm-based biological treatment technology that can remove recalcitrant organic and inorganic contaminants from a variety of industrial wastewaters. Up to 99.9% reductions in hydrocarbons, such as phenolics and polyaromatics, have been demonstrated on nearly 20 full-scale installations of the XCeed bioreactor technology worldwide. These high contaminant removal rates have been achieved while minimizing sludge production and energy consumption compared to other biological treatment systems. This paper will describe the process technology and summarize hydrocarbon removal performance data from operational systems.