The new innovative solution may become a viable part of the oil refining process.
Researchers of Bashkir State University (BashSU) were reported to have developed a technology for recycling oil sludge. Sludge is a water-containing mixture of petroleum products with clay, sand, and metal oxides, which accumulates during the hydrocarbon extraction and processing and causes considerable harm to nature.
Various oily sludge treatment methods exist, but they all have serious flaws. Hence as before, most of today's hazardous waste ends up dumped into oil sludge lakes. Oil refineries have certain open areas tailored for this purpose. This approach to waste disposal is, as of now, the most environmentally damaging.
The technology offered by the scientists from BashSU's Faculty of Engineering & IT is even superior to the hitherto preferred method of oil sludge disposal through exposure to high and ultra-high frequencies, the Press Office of the University reports. Treatment with microwave radiation is quite efficient, but it implies breaking down an emulsion by heating, which requires significant energy inputs.
The new technology combines exposure to microwave emission and the Yutkin electrohydraulic effect. Alexander Rukomoynikov, an assistant at the Department of Technological Machines and Equipment of Bashkir State University and the author of the development, notes that the low-temperature method of breaking down oil emulsions prevents the production of large amounts of carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. It does not involve burning hydrocarbons either, as those could be used as secondary raw materials. The new solution is also more productive and applicable even to high-viscosity emulsions.
Let us remind that Kuzbass State Technical University (KuzSTU) presented a breakthrough solution for cleaning out water bodies from oily wastes. KuzSTU's researchers came up with a sorbent that exceeds by far the rest of the materials for absorbing oil slicks on the water's surface.
