Get Out Sludge From Refinery.

[consilience1]

Dear everyone,

I'd like to tell you about sludge stuff in my refinery.
Normal and positive way to get out sludge which is mixture of 70% of oil and 30% of water around is the De-sludge work from empty Crude tank. However, when the number of crude tank is limited and no time for tank empty, if there were sludge in circulation, how could we get out the sludge effectively?

Best Regards,
Lion

 

[RogerH]

lion0061
I guess it depends were you aer located in the world and also what environmental legislation that applies. Some locations do have the possibility to treat the sludge themselves in order ot minimise the amounts (of residual solids) needed to go out for deposit. Some have specialised companies that can tkae care of the sludge but at a cost that sometimes can be very high (with all permits needed for a safe disposal).
Then there is always the possibility to blend a small slip stream into fuel oil and "sell" the sludge. The last option is the most economical because you get payed for the sludge but is the least ethical one, since the problem of sludge will be moved to the end user and also possibly create operational problems.

 

[JJPellin]

My first preference would be to install effective mixers on the tank to prevent the build up of sludge in the first place. A good pattern of variable angle mixers and a program for changing the angles to sweep the tank bottom on a regular basis should greatly reduce the sludge accumulation. If that was not practical, I would centrifuge the sludge to de-water it. I would put the dewatered sludge back into the crude unit or coker. I would process the water in my WWTP along with all other waste water streams.

Johnny Pellin