A review on novel and hybrid/integrated reactor configurations for the removal of recalcitrant organics from petroleum refinery wastewater

Abstract

Owing to the high demand of petroleum and petrochemical products, refineries, among the many industries that are set up worldwide, are of special importance. Wastewater generated from such industrial activities, however, contains toxic compounds that are of environmental concern. Due to the presence of highly recalcitrant organics present in refinery wastewater, treatment prior to its discharge into the environment and water bodies in order to meet certain acceptable discharge limits is imperative. Petroleum refineries unavoidably discharge a large volume of wastewater mainly with high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Low‐cost biological wastewater treatment methods are reported to show excellent COD removal efficiency from wastewater but have their own drawbacks. Hence, advanced integrated approaches are of new interest in this field. This review focuses on emerging technologies, in particular bioreactor configurations for petroleum wastewater treatment. It further discusses some future perspective in hybrid/integrated systems for treating PRWW.

Developing green technologies for environmental sustainability and quality

“…The highest threshold values of analyzed elements were obtained for submersed aquatic plants. Paul et al (2022) critically reviewed hybrid/integrated reactor configurations for the removal of recalcitrant organics from petroleum refinery wastewater. The review reported on how bioreactor configurations can be very critical to determine removal performance.…”