Search

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina. XXXIII, 441 p. Oily wastewaters are produced in large quantities by many different industries with the main contributor being the petrochemical sector. Problematic to treat, these waste streams create substantial environmental dangers. Mandated treatment for environmental compliance can be costly and generate a large financial burden on producing companies. Membrane filtration technology targeting oily water separation has emerged as a solution to the wastewater problem. Despite the advancement of the membrane technology, membrane fouling remains a major concern and drawback from the largescale implementation of this technology. Finding ways to optimize membrane function and to mitigate fouling will prove invaluable to the ability of membrane technology to take the next step in becoming the primary treatment method for produced water globally. The main avenues used to optimize membrane filtration processes include operating conditions such as transmembrane pressure, cross flow velocity and feed properties. Furthermore, membrane type and properties also play a main role in surface properties and its modification can enhance membrane efficiency and prevent fouling. These strategies are explored in detail in this research undertaking. Different membranes were tested for their rejection capacities and their operating conditions were optimized to achieve the highest rejection results. Both polymeric and ceramic membrane types were investigated. All experiments performed employed oily water emulsions prepared in the lab with properties similar to those of a real Bakken oil produced water. The effects of different operating conditions were tested in treating oily-wastewater using a silicon carbide, alumina , ZrO2, and TiO2 membranes. To design the experiments and optimize the operating conditions, a system built on L9 (34) orthogonal arrays of the Taguchi method and a response category of the-larger-the-better were applied. The analysis of variance was used to determine the most important parameters affecting the permeate flux. The effects of several operating parameters such as the transmembrane pressure (TMP), crossflow velocity (CFV), temperature (T), and pH on the permeate flux and fouling resistance were investigated. Furthermore, a novel membrane performance modeling system called the multicontinuum theory was validated experimentally which helped provide insight on the behaviour of oil droplets across a pore under different operating conditions. Additionally, a novel membrane filtration operational procedure was developed in the form of a one-sided periodic pressure method that prevented irreversible fouling from forming on the membrane leading to the discovery of a method which is virtually free of fouling. Different models were used to simulate the treatment of produced water using membranes, these models include Hermia’s models, different Soft Computing methodologies and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Student yes