Oil refinery wastewater treatment in the Niger Delta, Nigeria: current practices, challenges, and recommendations

Abstract

The extensive oil exploration has led to a series of environmental issues in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, over the years. Aside from oil spill, insufficient wastewater treatment of oil refineries and the discharged effluents become another potential source of pollution that has not received enough attention from the government and the public. Through reviewing the current oil refinery wastewater treatment processes and the discharge standards of wastewater effluents in Nigeria, we aimed to raise the awareness of the shortcomings of the current wastewater treatment technology and to discuss the consequences of insufficient treatment to the environment. This article further discussed the use of nanotechnology as a potential upgrade to the conventional treatment technologies as it has shown its capacity of removing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) or converting hazardous components to environmentally friendly derivatives. It should also prove beneficial to the key stakeholders involved in the exploration of crude oil in the region to consider optimization of oil refinery wastewater treatment processes through integration of emerging technologies.

Photocatalytic Degradation of 4-Nitrophenol by C, N-TiO2: Degradation Efficiency vs. Embryonic Toxicity of the Resulting Compounds

“…Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants is considered as an efficient, clean, and cost-effective alternative for contaminated water treatment (Wang et al, 1999 ; Kiros et al, 2013 ; Osin et al, 2017 ). Among various types of nano-photocatalysts, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) based photocatalysts are the most popular ones owing to their low cost, simple but reliable synthesis methods, resistance to photo-corrosion, and chemical stability (Carp et al, 2004 ; Herrmann et al, 2007 ; Rajeshwar et al, 2008 ; Akpan and Hameed, 2009 ).…”

“…However, real-time observation revealed that the transformation of acesulfame led to a collection of more persistent by-products that were 500 times more toxic than the parent compound inducing significantly elevated toxicity in both marine bacteria and zebrafish embryos (Sang et al, 2014 ). Therefore, while evaluating the effectiveness of photocatalytic degradation, it is also important to consider the potential hazardous effects exerted by the intermediate degradation compounds (Li et al, 2017 ; Osin et al, 2017 ).…”

Pitfalls of Wastewater Treatment in Oil Refinery Enterprises in Kazakhstan—A System Approach

“…There also are some published examples of violence over effluent quality by refining enterprises. Osin et al [113] showed that oil industry in Nigeria did not follow governmental standard of effluent quality. Whereas the law proposed and adopted Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria, it was not implemented.…”

Adsorption-Enhanced Ceramic Membrane Filtration Using Fenton Oxidation for Advanced Treatment of Refinery Wastewater: Treatment Efficiency and Membrane-Fouling Control

“…With the development of the refining industry, the threat to the environment caused by pollutants [ 1 , 2 ] contained in refinery wastewater has attracted more and more attention [ 3 ]. It is difficult for conventional treatments [ 4 , 5 ] to remove pollutants in wastewater such that the local standards are met; therefore, deep treatment processes are essential.…”