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Review
. 2024 Feb;31(6):8369-8386.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-31674-3. Epub 2024 Jan 4.

Petroleum sludge formation and its treatment methodologies: a review

Abdulraheim M A Hasan  1 , Rasha S Kamal  1 , Reem K Farag  1 , Manar E Abdel-Raouf  2
Affiliations
Review

Petroleum sludge formation and its treatment methodologies: a review

Abdulraheim M A Hasan et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Different petroleum operations produce huge amount of oil sludge annually. For instance, US EPA estimates the annual sludge production of each US refinery of 30,000 tons, while the average oily sludge produced from petrochemical industries in China is estimated about 3 million tons per year. In the last year, our center could recover about 30,206 barrels of raw oil from 32,786 barrels of tank bottom sludge (TBS) for different petroleum companies. This sludge causes huge economic losses besides its negative environmental impacts. The accumulation of sludge in the tanks results in reducing the tanks' capacity for storing liquid crude, accelerating the corrosion of the tanks, delay in the production schedule, and disturbing the whole production operation. There are diverse treatment methodologies such as solvent treatment, addition of certain chemicals, and centrifuging. Of course, the environmental regulations and the overall cost limitations are very important in deciding the preferred applicable method(s). Although several works handled the problem of sludge deposition and treatment from different aspects, we intend to introduce a different work. First, composition, formation, types, and properties of TBS were reviewed. Then, environmental and economic problems caused by TBS were revised. At last, different methodologies applied for treatment of oily TBS to recover oil and safe disposal of hazardous remains were investigated focusing on the most straightforward and environmentally friendly protocols. It is expected that this review attracts the experts in petroleum chemistry, and other relevant fields and provides a comprehensive understanding of current sludge control and treatment research.

Keywords: Crude oil reclamation; Physical treatment; Profitability decline; Residual tank deposits.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a The overall activities included in petroleum industry. b Chain of supply for petroleum-based products from well to consumer (Compiled from Wikipedia.org) and Wikimedia.org)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Parameters (a), crude oil sludge content (b) in various storage tanks, and (c) different sludge layers (Monteiro et al. 2015).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Treatment methodologies of tank bottom sludge: a oil recovery; b residue handling
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The overall strategies for tank bottom sludge treatment
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Analysis scheme of tank bottom sludge (Abdel Azim et al. 2011)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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