Process Design of Ammonia Separation for Nitrification Control in Aeration Basins at an IKORC’s Oily Wastewater Treatment Unit

Abstract

In the current decades, water shortage is well understood as one of the main limiting factors for oil industry development all over the world. One of the available and reasonable solutions is reusing wastewater. The oily wastewater treatment unit of the IKORC oil refinery provides a portion of the makeup water for cooling towers, applying physical, biological, and chemical treatments. Ammonia shocks are the only crisis that disrupts the nitrification process. This condition eventuates in destroying the microorganisms of aeration basins and leads to a high ammonia containing effluent. In order to protect the aeration process, it is mandatory to apply a suitable system for removing excess ammonia. In this study, at first, ammonia removal history is reviewed. Then quantity and quality of the oily sewer are investigated. Because of high volatility of ammonia contamination and high TDS, a stripping tower with air is selected among diverse solutions. Taking into account the principles of project econometrics, operating parameters such as stripping factor, pressure drop, tower volumetric flow rate, and number of towers are determined. Then, the process is designed and its environmental survey is conducted. Finally, calculating indices proved that this project is economically profitable in addition to its environmental benefits.