THE PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF SOUR GAS

PLANT PROCESS WASTE WATERS

S.A. ZAIDI E.L. TOLLEFSON

this article begins on the next page F

ENVIRONMENTAL CO,NTROL JCPT76-02-04 JCPT-11 The Physical-Chemical Treatment of Sour Gas Plant Process Waste Waters S. A. Zaidi, Environmental Protection Service, Environment Canada, Edmonton, Alberta and E. L. Tollefson, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Calgary, Calgeiry, Alberta Abstract The feasibility of physical-chemical treatment of sour gas plant aqueous wastes was studied on a laboratory scale. Experimental data on (a) the adsorption of organic pollutants on Culligan 1627-00 activated carbon, (b) the removal of sulphides from sulphur plant aqueous waste
and the chemical clarification of ttco aqueous waste streams are presented. Initially, the adsorption by the carbon of major organic chemicals itsed in treating sour gas was st tdied. The con- cent?-ations of the dilute aqueous sol?,ttions of those chem- icals were measured by a Beckman Total Carbon Analyzer. A four-hour contact period was faded to be sufficient for equilibrium adsorption of the organics. The adsorption data are well represented by Freundlich isotherms. Experimental data on the treatment of sour gas plant waste waters by physical-chemical methods
indicate the ,need for (a) segregation of various 'waste streams and (b) a combination of incineration, steam stripping, clarifica- tio,n and activated carbon absorption for the treatment and disposal of different streams. The data indicate that the incorporation of a proposed aqueous waste handling and treatment scheme, for- a typical sour gas plant, will produce an aqueous effluent containing less than 10 mgll, of total organic carbon and less than loo mgll of chemical oxygen demand. Treatment of the sour gas plant,,tit waste water samples by (,-chlorine-ultraviolet oxidation a,@id by
ozonation does capable of yneeti)ig the current waste -not appear to be quality standa)-ds. S. Abbas Zaidi, P.Eng, is a project engineer with the Environmental Pro- tection Service, Environment Canada. In his present position, he is re- sponsible for assessing the pollution potential from various federal facil- ities in this region, and developin@ programs for controlling water, air and noise pollution from these facil- ities. Mr. Zaidi holds a B.Sc. (chem. eng.) degree from the University of Kara- _ chi, Pakistan, and a M.Sc. (cheni. eng.) from the Uni- vers@ity of Calgary,
Alberta. E. L. Tollefson, since joining the Uni_ versity of Calgary in 1967, has been involved in research on both air and water pollution problems. Prior to re- turning to the academic world, he worked at the National Researcn Council, Ottawa, with Stanolind Oil and Gas o. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and with Chemcell Limited in Edmonton. He is now Head of the Department Of Chemical Engineering at the Univer- sity of Calgary. Technology, April-June, 1976, Montreal Introduction SOUP, GAS TREATMENT PLANTS in Alberta are able to meet the recently established waste water quality standards lirgely
because they are allowed to inject the process waste waters into subsurface strata"'. However, concern about the long-term risks of waste water inject-ion is growing and various governmental agencies in North America are weighing these long- term risks with the short-term gains'l,". It may be- come necessary for sour gas plants to demonstrate that the subsurface injection of aqueous wastes is the best disposal method in terms of over-all environmental protection. 'Fhe EPA in the United States already has regulations of this type for industrial aqueous waste injection"@. To determine that
subsurface injection of aqueOLIS w@Lstes would be least damaging environ- mentally, alternate aqueous waste treatment processes should be evaluated and the costs compared. A recent study by Milne and Tollefson'll, in which various alternative methods for the disposal or treatment of aqueous wastes from sour gas plants were evaluated, Indicated that the necessary experimental data were not available in the literature and that any comparison of treatment methods had to be based on "guess- timates". Recently, research has been undertaken in these laboratories to investigate the feasibility
of "physical- chemical tr(@atment" of aqueous wastes from sour gas plants. Synthetic systems were employed in the early phases of this research to generate equilibrium and kinetic data for the adsorption by activated carbon of some of the major organic compounds used in sour gas treating service in Alberta. Subsequently, waste water samples obtained from three sour gas treatment plants were, used to determine the extent of adsorp- tion of the organic components by activated carbon. The work reported covers the experimental investig- ation of: 1) a(isorptlion of organic
pollutants from sour gas plant aqueous wastes on Culligan 1627-00 activated carbon; (2) removal of the "total sulphides" from sulphur plant waste water; (3) flocculLtion of dehydration process waste water _ and sweetening solution filter backwash water; (4) ozonation of sour gas plant aqueous wastes; and (5) chlorine ultraviolet oxidation of sotir gas plant aqueous wastes. Experimental Procedures SYNTHETIC SYSTEMS Syntheti(@ systems were prepared by dissolving accurately ineasured amounts of selected organic com- pounds in distilled water. The
compounds used in the study were: nionoethanolamine (M.E.A.1), diethanola- 39