Uso de leitos coalescentes no tratamento de água produzida da indústria de petróleo

Abstract

Theoilindustry is oneofthe mostpolluting in theworld, itvarious segments can causemajorimpacts to the environment. It can behighlighted the production water or produced water,generated in largevolumes by theseindustries, consisting of several chemical compounds, with ahigh content ofoils and greases. A majorchallengeis the treatment ofthis effluent, as theTechnologies applied in its treatment arenor always efficient in reaching the parametersnecessary to meet the current standards, especially when thereis formation of an oil-in-wateremulsion.Among the technologies applied in the treatment process, coalesces beds become aviablealternativeto separate theseemulsions. Therefore, the objectivethis work is to evaluatethe performanceof acoalescing equipment with coupling of baffles in the treatment of producedwater, aiming at the removal of oilfrom water. Theexperiments werecarried out usingsyntheticoil-in-wateremulsion, produced in laboratory, usingoil, water, NaCl and sodiumlauryl sulfate, with aconcentration of approximately 400 mg/L.Thecoalesceused operated inahorizontal flow, in asteady state. Thebed was composed of dry coconut fibers (CocosNuciferaL.),abiomass very common in the stateof Alagoas,lengths bed 5, 10 and 15 cm, inflowof 40, 70and 108 L/h. Theresults showed efficiency values from 17to60%in relation toconcentration of oiland greases removal, withoutthe coupling of the baffles. In the presenceof baffles, efficiencies reached values of40.4 to 74%.Theseresults indicate that coalescent beds canbeanalternativein the process of treatment of produced water, with the purposeofreducing the concentration of oil, whether for thepurposes of disposal, reuse or reinjection.