Search

Petrochemical wastewater and produced water from oil and gas operations typically contain an array of organic and inorganic contaminants. The complexity of the wastewater, stringent environmental regulations, and the need for sustainable solutions have driven many research efforts in studying and developing advanced technology or combined treatment processes. On the other hand, the wastewater itself can be resources for water, energy, and other valuable product if appropriate technology is developed to recover them in a cost-effective fashion. The research advances in wastewater treatment and resource recovery technology are reviewed and summarized. For petrochemical wastewater, progresses were made in advanced oxidation, biological processes, and recovery of energy and water from wastewater. For produced water, many efforts were focused on membrane processes, combined systems, and biological treatment. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Significant progress continued to be made on petrochemical wastewater and produced water treatment. Recent technological advances in various treatment processes were summarized. Technologies focusing on resource recovery (e.g., water or energy) were presented.

Drainage from current and historic mining operations remains a persistent environmental problem. Numerous research and development efforts were made in 2019 with a goal to minimize the impact of mine drainage on the environment, while other research endeavors addressed the mine drainage issue from a different perspective, where mine drainage was considered a resource for water and valuable products, such as metals, sulfuric acid, and rare earth elements. Thus, this review has two main sections: (a) focusing on research efforts in mine drainage remediation technology, and (b) emphasizing advances in resource recovery from mine drainage. The first section covers traditional and emerging passive and active treatment technologies. The second section summarizes resource recovery efforts using various technologies, such as selective precipitation, membrane process, and biological systems. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Significant progress continued to be made in the management of mine drainage and related issues. Recent remediation technology advances in mine drainage were presented. Technologies focusing on resource recovery from mine drainage were reviewed.

Wastewater in petrochemical processes and produced water from oil and gas production remain a challenge for the industry to minimize their impact on the environment. Recent research and development of treatment technologies for petrochemical wastewater and produced water from oil and gas industries published in 2018 were summarized in this annual review. Great efforts and progresses were made in various treatment options, including membrane processes, advanced oxidation, biological systems, adsorption, coagulation, and combined processes. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Treatment technologies for petrochemical wastewater are reviewed. Research development in produced water from oil and gas industries is summarized. Reviewed technologies include traditional, advanced, and innovative processes.

Recycling of antibiotic mycelial fermentation residue (AR), a hazardous waste material, into high-performance heavy metal remediation material is an emerging research hotspot. The inorganic composition of biomaterials represents their capacity to immobilize heavy metals. In this study, to improve the Pb immobilization capacity, lincomycin mycelial fermentation residue (LR, a type of AR) was pyrolyzed in CO2 or N2 gas under different temperatures to adjust the carbon and phosphorus composition of its biochar. Results indicate that both activation temperature and gas type can significantly influence the transformation of LR carbon and phosphorus-containing groups. At high temperatures, the activation gas significantly controlled changes in carbonate and available phosphorus; however, this process was less successful at low temperatures. CO2 gas clearly inhibited the degradation of carbonate, but promoted consumption of the carbon matrix and released organism-combined phosphorus. Results suggest that CO2-activated biochar at 700 °C exhibited the strongest Pb immobilization capacity of 454 mg/g in aqueous solution and the highest Pb immobilization rate of 60% in soil, due to its more sites (carbonate and available phosphorus) for Pb stabilization. This study provides an effective method for transforming waste AR into a high-performance material for metal stabilization.

The recent research and development on mine drainage published in 2017 was summarized in this review. In particular, this review was focused on three main aspects: 1) mine drainage and its environmental impact, 2) prediction and prevention, and 3) treatment technologies. The first section covers physiochemical characterization, microbiological characterization, and environmental impacts. The second section includes mine drainage prediction and prevention. The final section focuses physiochemical treatment, biological treatment, passive treatment, and beneficial uses of mine drainage and treatment wastes.

Petrochemical and oil & gas industries are crucial for global economy while great attention is needed for the related contamination and its impact on the environment. Papers reviewed herein represent the recent research and development on petrochemical wastewater and produced water from oil & gas industry, published in 2017 and beginning of 2018 globally. In the petrochemical wastewater, progresses were made in characterization, physicochemical treatment and biological treatment. In the oil & gas produced water, efforts were made on the characterization, the environmental impact and treatment options.

Mine drainage from the mining of mineral resources (coal, metals, oil sand, or industrial minerals) remains as a persistent environmental problem. This review summarizes the scientific literature published in 2014 on the technical issues related to mine drainage or mine water in active and abandoned coal/hard rock mining sites or waste spoil piles. Also included in this review is the water from oil sand operations. This review is divided into the four sections: 1) mine drainage characterization, 2) prediction and environmental impact, 3) treatment technologies, 4) oil sand water. Many papers presented in this review address more than one aspect and different sections should not be regarded as being mutuallyexclusive or all-inclusive.

This review summarizes the recent research and development pertaining to the topic of mine drainage which were published in 2016 and early 2017. The review includes three main sections: Mine Drainage and its Environmental Impact, Prediction and Prevention, and Treatment Technologies. The first section covers the characterization of mine drainage and its related environmental impacts, including three subsections focused on physiochemical characterization, microbiological characterization, and environmental impacts. The second section of the review is divided into two subsections focused on either the prediction or prevention of acid mine drainage. The final section focuses on treatment technologies for mine drainage, including physiochemical treatment, biological treatment, passive treatment, and beneficial uses of mine drainage and treatment wastes.

This review provides a snapshot of papers published in 2015 relevant to the topic of mine drainage generation and control options. The review is broken into 3 sections: Generation, Prediction and Prevention, and Treatment Options. The first section, mine drainage generation, focuses on the characterization of mine drainage and the environmental impacts. As such, it is broken into three subsections focused on microbiological characterization, physiochemical characterization, and environmental impacts. The second section of the review is divided into two subsections focused on either the prediction or prevention of acid mine drainage. The final section focuses on treatment options for mine drainage and waste sludge. The third section contains subsections on passive treatment, biological treatment, physiochemical treatment, and a new subsection on beneficial uses for mine drainage and treatment wastes.

Selenium (Se) is emerging as a contaminant that must be dealt with in many areas of the world, especially those areas impacted by past or current mining activities. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of synthesized nano-magnetite when used as an adsorbent to remove anionic selenium species from aqueous solutions. In conjunction with studies on the effects of pH, temperature, concentration, contact time, and presence of competing anions on selenium removal efficiency, a series of batch adsorption experiments were conducted to study adsorption isotherms and adsorptive thermodynamics. Compared with either natural magnetite (

Adsorption tests of Congo Red, a commercial azo dye, by acid mine drainage (AMD) sludge were carried out at different pH, temperature, dye concentration, contact time, and adsorbent dosage. Precoat filtration was conducted to test if the dye could be removed during continuous filtration by a precoated AMD sludge layer. Adsorption of Congo Red onto AMD sludge followed the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 389.1 mg/g. Based on thermodynamic studies, adsorption was found to be exothermic, and an increase in temperature led to a decline in dye removal. Dye removal decreased with an increasing pH. Through metal leaching tests, it was observed that most metals associated with AMD sludge remained insoluble when adsorption occurred at pH 6 — 10. A rather rapid process was observed for the adsorption of Congo Red onto AMD sludge with more than 80% adsorption taking place within 5 min. Adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second-order model. Precoat filtration continuously removed Congo Red from aqueous solution with success, and dye removal mechanism via precoat filtration was adsorption. The adsorption and precoat filtration studies showed dye removal could be a beneficial use of AMD sludge prior to its final disposal.

A major problem in the active treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) is the generation of large volumes of sludge through pH neutralization and subsequent metal precipitation. The sludge typically contains a low concentration of solids, resulting in associated handling and disposal difficulties. Anhydrous ammonia is one reagent commonly used to neutralize AMD due to its quick reaction rate, easy implementation, and relatively low chemical and operational costs. However, very limited information is available in the literature related to the detailed characterization and dewaterability of ammonia-treated AMD sludge. In this study, sludge was collected from an AMD treatment facility where ammonia neutralization was used. The sludge characteristics included high pH and alkalinity, high total Fe and Al, elevated sulfate, and low solids content (0.72 ± 0.24%). Coagulants and flocculants were not effective in reducing the settled sludge volume. Based on filtration tests, ammonia-treated AMD sludge demonstrated re...

The large volumes of sludge produced through the active treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) require further processing and final disposal. AMD sludge typically contains a heterogeneous mixture of iron, aluminum, magnesium, and calcium oxides/hydroxides that are of little to no practical value. However, purified iron and aluminum hydroxides have potential commercial value. Based on the solubility of the major dissolved metals, a two-step selective precipitation process was developed to recover high purity iron and aluminum as separate hydroxide products through the manipulation of current AMD treatment operations. The recommended pH for iron precipitation was pH 3.5–4.0 with precipitate purity >93.4% and iron recovery >98.6%. AMD water after iron removal was used as source water for aluminum recovery. Aluminum precipitated best at pH 6.0–7.0 with aluminum recovery >97.2% and precipitate purity >92.1%.